We Rise Above
by Kay Gryffin
Summary: In order for one to become more than just another person, they must be willing to put themselves on the line for their beliefs. They must be willing to die in a display of true strength to become something great. To rise above it all. This is the sequel to "Of Strength". Hinata/Kankuro, Sasuke/Kiba, Hanabi/OC, Naruto/Fuki.
1. Prologue: Trap

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **_

_**Enjoy!**_

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_TRAP_

_/trap/_

_prevent [someone] from escaping from a place; induce [someone] by means of trickery or deception, to do something they would not otherwise want to do._

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Nara Obito's entire childhood, from the age of four until he was eight could possibly be considered one giant, colossal cluster-fuck of a disaster. His earlier years—his toddler years—he hardly considered to be a part of his childhood anymore, because to him, those four years of his life had made sure to change him irreversibly. From the time he was four, he'd had to give up everything that made a childhood in favor of simply keeping alive—which, with a slave-driving witch like how his mother had become, was damned near impossible most of the time, but he had managed it by keeping his head low in public, and by just giving up on his life ever changing.

It was a good tactic, for those years. Entrapped in the snarls of a beyond-damaged mother-son relationship, Obito couldn't foresee any way out, and this way of thought kept him from losing his mind. Never wondering if someone would come for him stopped him from always wondering if someone even cared about if he was gone. Never trying to escape kept him from losing his mother, who although went crazy and used him for bad things, he still loved. Giving up hope had been the best thing he could do for himself, in his opinion.

In his opinion, having hope was like living a lie. It sounded good, and oh, did it feel good too. But hope is so easily dashed that it just wasn't something he, in his position, could afford placing his heart in. He knew he couldn't bear to hold the pain of a hope being dashed, so he bottled up every piece of hope he had within him and buried it deep inside, so that it would never reach the surface, and he would never have to feel it.

If he felt it, he wasn't sure what he would do. He wasn't sure of the pain he would feel if he allowed himself to feel hopeful, especially in the predicament he was in. With the life he had been forcibly given, feeling hope would just make everything worse. Hope would incline him to fight against his bindings, incline him to fight the life he had, and that just wasn't something he thought he could do. He believed it would only make things worse, for himself, to fight the environment he so hated. He believed that it would be better to just let things happen as they did, and maybe it would one day turn out alright.

When Nara Shikaku came, that day he tracked him on the street and followed him to an empty house in the Earth country, he had a momentary lapse of judgment. Maybe there had been a crack in the bottle, or maybe it just wasn't deep enough; but a small bit of hope found its way out, and it seized his mind. It made him think—_this person is here to end my torment._ And so, he fully believed in him, fully hoped that Shikaku would change his life. That didn't mean to say that Shikaku didn't—because he did; he brought him to a place where he would be cared for in the arms of a family he didn't even realize he had all this time—but there had been a limit to the total changed Shikaku could make in his life.

He moved from being trapped in Senju Obito to being trapped in Nara Shikaru. Unlike Senju Obito, there were certain liberties he'd been forced to give up upon becoming Nara Shikaru. Nara Shikaru had to learn Nara-house techniques. Nara Shikaru had to become a basic-level Genin. Nara Shikaru had to attend two-a-week meetings with a psychiatrist for the first three months of him being in Konohagakure. Nara Shikaru had to become a shinobi to defend Konohagakure. Nara Shikaru was not allowed to make his own decisions on what he wanted to do with his life.

Nara Shikaru was the very definition of a trap, and he was a trap Obito wasn't sure he would ever be able to get off of him. He still felt trapped, and he knew that wasn't going away. He sighed and looked up at the sky. He was held by so many of the bonds Shikaru had, and all he could do was bottle up his hope that it would ever change. Nara Shikaru was his trap, and Obito was never going to be able to let go.

* * *

_**So... I'm back. And I've brought the sequel to "Of Strength". It's different writing, different plot and, in my opinion, a different feel. I hope you guys like this. I don't focus on Hinata and Kankuro, like in the other story- I focus primarily on the other main pairings I came up with. Sorry to the KankHina fans I've garnered, but I'll try to work in some fluffy KankHina moments :3 **_

_**MAIN PAIRINGS: ****Hinata H./Kankurō; Hanabi H./OC (Obito N.); Fuki/Naruto U.; Sasuke ****U.****/Kiba I.**_

_**SIDE PAIRINGS: ****Tenten/ Neji H., ****Shizune/Genma S., ****Matsuri/Gaara (implied), ****Temari/Shikamaru N., ****Hana I./Itachi U., ****Rin N./Obito, U. ****Hanabi H./Konohamaru S.(one-sided), ****Konohamaru S./Moegi, ****Shino/OC (implied), ****OC (Shizuka)/OC (****Miyu****U.****)**_

_**MAIN CHARACTERS (listed in importance): ****Hinata, ****Sasuke, ****Hanabi, ****OC Obito, ****OC Shizuka, ****Naruto**_

**_This is the prologue chapter of the story. I hope you guys like it (and I hope I haven't bombarded you with so many story facts). If you're just picking this up, I really suggest you go and read 'Of Strength' so the confusion is limited!__ To those coming back, I hope you enjoy this story! Reviews, please? It's my first sequel story... :) __I think I got really carried away. Shit. Sorry :) _**

**_I own the story, and I own these OCs. OH! And like in the story before this, the prologue is the shortest chapter. Don't worry, there will be more words. Enjoy!  
_**


	2. Chapter 1: Surprise, Pt 1

**_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. I own this story. _**

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_SURPRISE _

_/sə(r)ˈprīz/_

_an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing._

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**4 YEARS AGO**

* * *

It came as no surprise to anyone, when the Chūnin exams came along, that Nara Shikaru—now Nara Obito, officially—passed with flying colors. He had come a long way in the past year of his life, changing from a loner who pretended to not care about anyone to a true, well-rounded shinobi that the examiners were proud to give a flak vest to. Obito was one of only two to pass the exam that year, along with a boy from the Hidden Cloud by the name of Taka. Obito and Taka had been, in fact, pitted against each other in the finals, a match where Obito had managed to come out victorious without accidentally losing it, much to Naruto and Hanabi's relief.

"So now we're on the same level," said Shizuka with a grin after Obito's induction ceremony to the rank of Chūnin. Obito rolled his eyes, embarrassed by the attention he was receiving from his teammates. He'd taken off his usual sweatshirt to wear the vest, leaving only his mesh shirt underneath and his hitai-ate around his upper arm, much like his older cousin. He'd changed much in the months passed, mostly because he'd finally cut his hair from the length it was at. It was a shorter ponytail now, but it seemed to grow in volume. Naruto had no doubts that if he'd released the hair from the bonds of the rubber band, his hair would be a lot like Sasuke's.

"I guess so," he mumbled, taking a bite of the barbequed mackerel with a deep blush plaguing his cheeks. Shizuka snickered, taking a bite of his own food. He'd changed slightly, as well—his hair was growing longer, down to his shoulders, and his bangs were falling across his eyes. It reminded Naruto of Gekkō Hayate's, except he didn't look any bit as sickly as Hayate. His dark brown eyes glittered with a life that just hadn't been there before, probably because of the katana he had received from his brother, and the closure he got; as well as a new-found kinship with Genma.

"Don't get too flustered, Obi-kun," said Hanabi, laughing and taking some more mackerel. "No one's even begun to make fun of you yet." Hanabi's pale lilac eyes glittered with mischief, enjoying the pre-cursor to the rather harsh teasing that the eleven-year-old had up her sleeve. She pushed her overlong hair behind her ear. Physically, Hanabi had to be the one to develop the most, mostly because she had hit puberty, and he just couldn't ignore the tell-tale signs of development beginning of it. She also had gained a small amount of height, as well as chakra control. Her Byakugan was getting finer, sharper; more like Neji's than Hinata. She was also taking more lessons from Sasuke, the topic of which Naruto didn't know, but whatever it was making her gain scar tissue and lean muscle.

In short, they were growing up right before his eyes. He suddenly felt unjustifiably old, even though he was just sixteen years old still. He wondered if this was the way that Kakashi felt when they—himself, Sasuke, and Sakura—had all gone off and found different teachers and then come back. He felt like it was moving incredibly quickly. In another few months, Shizuka would be leaving Konoha for Suna. At the same moment, he would be leaving with Obito. Hanabi would obviously continue on training with Sasuke in whatever weird form they were doing. It was going too fast, his tenure as their sensei.

He raised his cup of soda. "Hey, can we tease him after he gets his toast?" he asked, his eyes bright with amusement.

Obito blushed deeper. "Gee thanks," he said sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest. Hanabi giggled and raised her own cup, followed by Shizuka.

"Good job, you crazy-ass bastard!" the three of them said in unison, laughing throughout their sentence and dragging the attention of people surrounding them. Obito laughed nervously, chugging back the seltzer water he'd ordered. Naruto reached over and rubbed the top of his head, making his bangs that had so often been in his forehead before. Now, he pushed them out of the way of his eyes, clearing his forehead and narrowing his brown eyes at his teacher. Naruto heard a group of girls a couple of tables over immediately begin to gossip about 'that sexy boy over there, with the orange guy' and 'how lucky that white-eyed chick is to be next to him'.

_That Uchiha charm is beginning to take affect, _Naruto thought with a chuckle, taking a sip of the sweet soda that Obito refused to have. He was glad that Hanabi managed to get her claws into the boy before the charm began to affect anyone. She was still rather clueless with the amount he adored her, even though she now knew he had feelings for her.

"We didn't make fun of Shizuka when he became a Chūnin," said Obito, glaring at his friend.

"True. But, then again, his becoming a Chūnin was supposed to be temporary, but they kind of sprung his new status on him while he was still in the hospital," said Hanabi with a grin. "We didn't have time to make fun of him, and now it's too late for that."

Shizuka stuck out his tongue at his friend, and Obito gave him the finger. Naruto chuckled at his two students, greatly amused by the both of them. Hanabi giggled, a light blush taking her cheeks. She pushed her hair behind her ear again, her lilac eyes flicking over to the girls across from them, who were gossiping obscenely. Naruto was slightly surprised that he was noticing things that the other two team members weren't noticing, such as the fact that Hanabi was currently trying to seem more girly, like those girls who were gossiping and giggling about Obito. Puberty was definitely hitting her hard, wasn't it?

He would miss watching all three of them growing up. But he would enjoy this moment, as he began to start the heavy teasing that all shinobi received upon becoming Chūnin by the fellow shinobi, only to be interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice. "So you're the one who passed, Obito?!"

Hanabi rubbed her forehead. "God, Konohamaru, don't you know timing?" she asked the taller boy, who blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. Naruto smirked, taking another sip of his soda. Well, now this was interesting. He flicked Shizuka a glance, raising a brow. Shizuka shrugged, taking a sip of his green tea. _Damn, were we all like this when we were their ages?_ Naruto wondered, thinking back to his group. Sure, they had their share of drama, but was it really so—immense?

"Sorry, but I didn't know. I was just surprised, Hanabi," said Konohamaru, blushing and playing with the end of his scarf. Moegi stood behind him, watching him with soft black eyes. In the back of his mind, Naruto wondered if Kakashi had ever found this amusing, watching these kid's love triangles. It definitely appeared that Shizuka found it amusing; snickering at the ties.

"Konohamaru, we have to meet Udon," said Moegi, pulling on the end of Konohamaru's scarf. He looked back at her and nodded, biting his lip.

"Naruto, we still have to fight sometime!" said Konohamaru, pointing at his longtime older rival. Naruto rolled his eyes at him and nodded, smirking to himself. If it would get the kid off of his back… Moegi's temple pulsed and she pulled harder on the dark blue scarf, forcing the twelve-year-old to move. "B-Bye!" he managed to choke out.

Moegi and Hanabi made eye contact for a second. "Hi, Hanabi," said Moegi in a monotonous voice.

"Hi, Moegi," Hanabi responded with the same tone. Obito said nothing, simply glaring at Konohamaru. Naruto and Shizuka were both on the brink of dying of laughter, too amused by the situation to even think straight. After all, who didn't find a spontaneous love triangle to be amusing, especially one that seemed to be this big?

* * *

_His breath was hot, hotter than Sasuke had ever experienced before in his entire life. As his lips brushed over his skin, tasting, stroking, feeling; Sasuke couldn't help but feel more and more amazing. This was a wondrous sensation, he decided, and he truly didn't want this to end. He grabbed onto what he could find, not picky. Any part of him was a good thing to touch, really. When Sasuke's fingers made contact with the bared skin of his upper arm, he decided to bite down lightly on Sasuke's collarbone, making him moan and shiver. _

_"A-Ah…" Sasuke murmured hotly, running his hands into his lover's dark brown hair. He smirked and lapped at the slightly bloody wound he'd left upon his Uchiha. "AH!" he moaned as the man began to play with his manhood. "S-Stop! Please!" Sasuke was not known for begging, not usually; but with this kind of moment, begging was the only thing he could really think of doing. He was being driven mad with pleasure, and his highly pleasured mind couldn't think of anything but to beg for an end. _

_The man smirked and licked the shell of Sasuke's ear. "Babe, do you really want me to stop?" _No, _Sasuke thought, but with the amount of pleasure he was getting forming words was not currently coming naturally to him, nor was coherent thought. Only he could think of was two words: 'no' and a four-letter name that he couldn't help but repeating like a religious mantra as the man got lower and lower down his body. _

_"Kiba." _

Sasuke snapped into consciousness, sitting bolt upright, breathing heavy. He'd passed out while resting after a long morning of rigorous training without meaning to. He groaned and cradled his head. His thoughts of Kiba were only increasing in quantity since he'd come back to Konoha the first time around, even more so since the seal on Madara was fully fixed. He really wanted to stop all these thoughts of him, but it was just getting worse and worse.

_And now I have a hard-on in the middle of the training area, _Sasuke thought with a groan, rubbing the tent in his pants. Great. Just fucking fantastic. He really wanted to hate Kiba for doing these crazy things to his body, but he just couldn't. He filled his mind with the most unattractive thing he could think of—Orochimaru and Kabuto in hot pink and neon green bikinis, respectively. He managed to quell it quickly, quicker than usual. He stood up, dusting off the back of his pants and picking up his bag filled with kunai and slinging it over his shoulder.

His saving Kiba was not something he ever planned on doing. He'd never really noticed Kiba before that moment, really. Well, actually, that wasn't completely true. He'd known about Kiba—he was some vulgar slacker in his class who aspired to be the Hokage along with Naruto—but he really hadn't cared. But when he'd saw Kiba defending Konoha to the best of his ability against someone like Suigetsu, who with that sword was stronger than someone like Kiba, who wasn't weak—Sasuke found his heart beating faster. The heart Kiba had; that will that he had to defend Konoha; it was something too amazing for words. The fury that Kiba had was something so amazingly attractive to the young Uchiha that he felt an incredible amount of attraction towards the Inuzuka male…

"Sasuke."

The Uchiha in question blinked in surprise. He wasn't an easy person to catch off guard—figures that the person he was so infatuated with would be the one to do it. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru stood before him, obviously coming in for a training session. Shino nodded at him respectfully, whereas Kiba simply stared at him. "What?" asked Sasuke, doing his best to make it look like he was perfectly normal.

"No. Um. Sorry, wasn't expecting you here," said Kiba, rubbing the back of his neck. Sasuke blinked. Since when had Kiba sounded so civil to him? Usually, his voice was filled with the utmost venom and hate. He knew that Kiba did not like him. "Uh… we're just gonna go train. Nothing's wrong at the site, is there?"

"No," responded Sasuke, trying to keep his emotions under check. "I might've left a few shuriken in the wooden post, but I think that's it." Kiba nodded, and Sasuke knew that the moment was terse and awkward. _Shino must've told him to pretend to be polite to me or something, _Sasuke decided, not noticing the raised brow the Aburame was giving his best friend. "I have to go. I have to meet someone," said Sasuke, also not noticing the slight rise of Kiba's eyebrows. All he could think was that he was such an awkward, antisocial moron. He wanted to kick his own ass for being unable to have a conversation with Kiba. He nodded at the two of them, and then walked briskly past them so he could go get alcohol and drown the moment.

Shino watched the Uchiha go, and then turned his attention back to Kiba. "What was that?" he asked his friend the moment Kiba was out of earshot.

"What?" asked Kiba, biting his lip and looking away from Shino, blushing.

"That. That was… sociable. You're never sociable towards Sasuke—especially not Sasuke. I have to tell you to be sociable towards Sasuke. So, I repeat, Kiba—what was that?" Akamaru barked in agreement, looking up at his master. Kiba gritted his teeth and walked forwards, not wanting to answer Shino's question. He was afraid of answering that question.

For some reason, Kiba found something curious about Sasuke. He wasn't sure what, but it'd formed when Sasuke came into the camp, carrying Hinata and insisting immediate medical care for her, threatening the lives of whoever didn't reply with medical relief. That fury that Kiba had seen was actually amazing. He'd assumed that the Uchiha had no emotions before that point, but when he saw that… he'd felt a rush of emotion that actually scared him a little. But what scared him more was a flash of something that felt like a dream—Sasuke standing over him, blood splatters on his face, anger evident on his face. _Don't you dare die, _Sasuke had said, _If you die, I'll go mad. I never want you to die. I want you to live, dammit, live, Kiba!_

Kiba was scared of these new feelings. Terrified, actually. He wanted to hate Sasuke, but he couldn't, not now, it was scaring him. It wasn't like it was unusual for an Inuzuka male to be with men—Inuzuka clansmen were known for their bisexuality—but Kiba hadn't wanted to be with Sasuke. Sasuke betrayed Konoha. Kiba valued loyalty over all, especially to Konohagakure. Kiba just couldn't see himself being with someone who didn't have the same attachment. It went against who he was, as an Inuzuka.

He, an Inuzuka, couldn't love Sasuke, a traitor, could he?

* * *

There were moments in Kakashi's life where he felt affirmed; where he felt like his purpose was there, alive and well. They were rare moments, few and far between; but they did exist. Of course, due to Kakashi's problems with properly showing emotion due to the damage done to him by his father's suicide in his early years, no one would really be able to tell when these moments occurred except for those who were truly close to him, which really was a handful of people. He didn't like to let many people in, but once you were in—you were in. There wasn't another way to describe it. He wouldn't tell you when you were in his center, either, you had to know it. It made him truly mysterious in his workings, when you had to wonder if you were close to him.

Hinata was almost sure she was close, but not completely sure. Kakashi admitted being close with her mother, but Hinata was not one who believed in association because of the people she knew. She knew that with Kakashi, she'd have to develop her own standing, and she'd have to wait patiently for it to become apparent on whether or not she was in his circle. She had, at the moment, no idea how it would present itself, or even if it would present itself, but she hoped to whatever deity existed that it would someday. Due to Sakura's betrayal, she needed hard evidence from everyone close to her about whether or not they cared about her enough, and Kakashi basically treated her pretty much the same as everyone else, which was the problem—she got the same treatment as everyone else, whether close or a simple coworker.

She needed bona fide trust.

Trust was _not _having her wait outside an orphanage, sitting on top of the largest scroll she'd ever seen before in her life and keeping vigil. She didn't even know the mission objective—all she knew was that she had to keep watch while Kakashi went inside. It tore her up on the inside that Kakashi woke her up at four o'clock in the morning for a spur-of-the-moment mission that he wouldn't even give her the details for. Weren't they a team? Master and student, shinobi and kunoichi… friends?

She frowned behind her porcelain mask, crossing her arms over her chest. She could've been at home, spending time with Kankurō before he had to head back to Sunagakure with Gaara. She was engaged, after all; and as an engaged woman all she wanted to do was spend time with her future husband. But _no. _No, she had to spend time two kilometers off from a small village on the borders of the Land of Fire, close to the Land of Rivers keeping watch for shinobi.

"See anyone?" Hinata turned towards an older woman, close to Kakashi's age. She was beautiful, probably the prettiest woman Hinata had ever seen in her life, besides for her mother and for Kurenai. She offered her a cup of steaming tea. After a small amount of deliberation, she jumped down from the top of the scroll, nodding appreciatively as she took the tea, making the woman smile. "Did you see anyone, ANBU-sama?" Hinata shook her head and turned away from the woman, hiding her face from her as she sipped at the tea and then pulled back down her mask. The woman smiled. "Dog trained you, didn't he?" Hinata gave no reply, even though she wanted to. She had no way of knowing if the woman was a friendly or not. The woman sighed. "Dog jumped over the fence and whispered in the ear of the field," she said. Hinata flinched and looked at her, raising an eyebrow behind her owl mask.

"Did the field tell the ants?" Hinata finally said.

"Negative. The field told Owls in the night." She smiled, and Hinata sighed in relief. "Dog wants to confirm the whispers with Owl."

Hinata nodded and picked up the scroll, swinging it and carrying it underneath her elbow, fixing the strap of the scroll that hung across her back; a summoning scroll for the puppet Kankurō had made her. "You speak the black speak. Owl will speak to Dog," she said, gesturing for the woman to lead the way.

When Hinata had learned the older ANBU code, she hadn't expected it to be half as much use as it really had. What she found was that Kakashi used it to transfer information to her when he didn't want Shikamaru and Neji hearing it, and usually it was very beneficial information. This code had gone out of use about two years before her birth due to its over-simplicity, a simplicity that was actually hard to understand if one wasn't trained to listen to it properly. When the woman said 'Dog jumped over the fence and whispered in the ear of the field,' it'd basically meant that Kakashi was, in fact, an ally to this woman, whose name more than likely contained 'Nohara'. When Hinata asked if the field told the ants, she'd asked if she told anyone else besides herself and therefore put some at risk. However, the woman said that the only person she'd told was Hinata, the Owl, in private and in the shadows.

'Dog wants to confirm the whispers with Owl,' meant that she was going to take her to see Kakashi so he could make her know for sure that this woman—Nohara—was to be trusted. 'You speak the black speak', basically, meant that her terminology with the code was correct for the style that Kakashi had taught her, black meaning 'off the books and in the shadows' due to the fact that the code form wasn't official any longer in Konoha. 'Owl will speak to Dog'—straightforward. She'd speak to Kakashi and she'd clear the info she was just given.

Kakashi sat at the kitchen island, his dog's mask covering up his regular mask. "The fields whispered to the Owls the black speak of the Dogs," Hinata said, not wasting any time. "She claims not to speak to the ants. The Owls wants to ask the Dogs if the fields should be allowed to whisper in the night to them."

"The fields can speak to the Owls over the fences," Kakashi said, forming quick seals before he removed his mask. "I've placed a genjutsu. No one will hear or see us. You can take off your mask, she's trusty." Hinata breathed a sigh of relief as she took off her own mask, pushing her bangs off of her face. "Rin, this is my apprentice, Hyūga Hinata. Hinata, this is my ex-teammate, Nohara Rin."

Hinata blinked, surprised—she knew that name. Nohara Rin was supposed to be dead. However, she was here, right in front of her. Hinata smiled at the woman, holding back her surprise as well as she could. "Hello."

"Hello to you, too," said Rin with a blush, "Kakashi's told me a lot about you, Hinata-chama, but I never thought I'd actually meet you. This is amazing!" She giggled. "Kakashi doesn't really bring the people he tells me about to meet me. I've yet to meet Naruto or Sasuke…" Hinata smiled. This woman was actually very sweet—it was kind of hard to believe that she and Kakashi were friends.

"To be completely honest, Nohara-sama… I thought you were dead."

Rin faked being aghast. "Kakashi! You told her I was dead?!"

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle. "Ah, no. That's not what I said to her. I just told her I lost two of my teammates during the war."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Kakashi. You're such a chronic liar."

"I don't lie to you," he countered with what seemed to be a smile underneath his mask.

"No, you don't. Obviously—she's every bit as sweet as you described her to be, as well as pretty!" Rin turned her attention back to Hinata, pulling at the long indigo locks gently. "I have never seen hair this color. And I've never touched hair so soft—! I'm so jealous of you. I bet you deep condition, don't you?"

"Honestly? I really don't do much," admitted Hinata with a shy blush.

"OOH! And you're embarrassed… you're so cute!" She clapped her hands happily and then stopped herself, her own blush exceeding Hinata's. "Sorry. This is the first time in years I've had contact with anyone from Konoha besides for Kakashi. I don't mean to weird you out."

"You're not—it's fine," assured Hinata immediately, "I'm a naturally shy person. It doesn't take a lot to make me feel embarrassed, to be honest."

"She's not lying. You should see her face when her boyfriend talks about her. I never realized that the human skin can actually look like a candied apple before I met her." Hinata blushed again and looked down to her feet. Kakashi and his teasing was getting to her.

"Oh, stop picking on her, for Chrissakes, Kashi-kun! You're nothing but appraisal when she's not here," Rin chastised, slapping Kakashi's wrist with a furious blush on her cheeks. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. _Kashi-kun? _Hinata thought, resisting the urge to giggle at the nickname. This woman seemed to have Kakashi wrapped around her little finger, and she was damned proud of it. She exuded nothing of shame.

Kakashi rolled his dark grey eye and looked over at Hinata. "Can I get the scroll, Nata-chama?" he asked, referring to his own pet name for the teenaged girl. Hinata nodded, handing it to him without argument. Rin suddenly became very serious, her blush disappearing with the drop of a hat.

"We're summoning him?" she asked.

"Yes. It was too much of a danger to move him from Konoha to here. The trip was too long, and we had no idea if we'd run into someone." Gently nudging Hinata out of the way, he laid the large scroll out on the kitchen floor, opening it wide to the big seal in its possession. "We had our weapons specialists draw up the seal. It's secure, with minimal chakra excess given off. It's also rigged so that we're protected from what comes out."

"A basic summoning scroll wouldn't have worked?" asked Rin, biting her bottom lip.

"Not for prisoners." Hinata raised an eyebrow—prisoner? Why were they giving a prisoner to this woman? Kakashi looked over at Hinata, his grey eye soft. "Hinata." She blinked and focused on him instead of the scroll. "Hinata, I haven't told you anything about what's going on, and I'm sorry. But I need you to keep an open mind, and I promise I'll explain what's going on to you on the return trip. Please, Hinata." Hinata raised her other eyebrow—she never thought she'd see the day where Kakashi was begging her.

"No, tell her now," interrupted Rin with a hard, authoritative edge in her voice. "I'm not risking him in case she gets mad at you. Not at all. You tell her everything right now."

"Rin…"

"Hatake." Rin's voice became cold. "You tell her right now or I'll go to Konoha _myself _to get him. If you can tell me the truth, then, dammit; you can tell her the truth. We're not going to do this until she knows and accepts it. Do you hear me?"

Kakashi sighed, obviously brow-beaten. He turned to his partner, biting his bottom lip. "Hinata…" he said slowly, and then sighed, "Please don't hate me for hiding this from you. Please understand."

* * *

**_So, these chapter used to be hella long. They used to be about 8,000-11,000 words each. And then I figured, I already did that with 'Of Strength', and I wanted this to nowhere near as quick as it was seemingly becoming. Before I made the decision to split up my chapters, with the amount I'd written so far, the fic was already past 120 pages, but there was only five chapters. Currently, there's roughly 170 unedited pages, and more than fifteen chapters. But I'm still working :) _**

**_A review would be really nice. I'm just saying, it would make me feel like I am doing good, because I truly am unsure if this story is coming out good so far. Like I keep saying, this is my first sequel, so I'm more insecure about this than I am about anything else. _**

**_Um, there was a specific song that came to mind when writing "Surprise", and it's a song called "Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects. All these chapters tend to have songs that I think about when writing them, even if the main song responsible for this fic is an A Day to Remember song. If you've ever heard "Dirty Little Secret", hopefully, the connection can be seen. _**

**_I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next one should be coming out soon! _**


	3. Chapter 2: Surprise, Pt 2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**_

* * *

_SURPRISE _

_/sə(r)ˈprīz/_

_an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing._

* * *

**4 YEARS AGO**

* * *

Kakashi sighed, staring at the door of his student's temporary bedroom. "I don't know what I find more surprising, the fact that she didn't accept it right away or the fact that you were actually serious about not doing this until she accepts it," he sighed to his longtime friend, who giggled and wrapped her arms around her legs. Rin felt absolutely no shame for causing Kakashi this agony, and he knew it. He knew he deserved the rebuttal he'd received from Hinata, as well as the quick punch to the jaw and the knee to the gut he'd somehow didn't see coming. He did hide this type of information from her—'this type' meaning that the man who was responsible for the war, Uchiha Obito, was being freed, the man who was the cause of days of misery and despair on Hinata's part.

He'd tried to reason with her that they'd erased those memories, and that by affect that Obito she'd come to know had died. The Obito they were bringing to Rin was kinder, gentler—the Obito Kakashi had grown up knowing. Despite this, she wouldn't listen to him. She actually became furious at him for even thinking she'd accept it as a reason. Rin had managed to diffuse the situation somehow after she kicked him in the guts, for which Kakashi was grateful for—the girl had used chakra behind her kick. He was sure he'd be pissing blood for days.

Rin was forcing them to stay the night, in fact, much to Kakashi's dismay. He was afraid she'd try to choke him in his sleep or cut up the scroll.

"You brought this on yourself, Kashi-kun," she said, flipping the page in the latest and most mysteriously printed novel in the Icha-Icha series, _Icha-Icha Palace_. "Wow, this is as dirty as _Icha-Icha Lifestyle_. And I thought that kind of smut would end after that book. But it doesn't utilize the literary devices like _Lifetsyle_ did." Usually, Kakashi would add to the conversation, but he just couldn't; not with someone like Hinata mad at him.

"Why doesn't she understand?" Kakashi asked for the umpteenth time.

Rin sighed and put down the book and turned to her friend. "Kakashi. She met the Obito going through a dark time. From what you've explained to me, he was a cruel man who was unafraid to torture children. In all honesty, if someone like Hinata didn't hate who Obito was I'd be surprised. Though you've told her that the person he is now is of no threat to her, all she knows is his cruel side. It'll take her a while to be willing to accept this." She got up and patted Kakashi's knee as she made her way to her private kitchen, pulling out a plastic container filled with rice balls. She leaned against the counter with her hip, looking out the window. "Kakashi. Go outside."

"Eh?" asked Kakashi, raising an eyebrow. "Maa, I don't want to. I shouldn't. I'm an ANBU, Rin. I don't want those kids seeing my face."

Rin raised a brow. "Kashi-kun, you wear a porcelain mask over a cloth mask. I think your identity is in safe hands. Besides, Kashi… I'm not giving you a choice." She pointed at him. "Go outside. Those kids won't bother you. They know better than that." He raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. "Honestly? They're quite intimidated by you. It's not everyday they see a man walking around in full body armor with a mask purely meant for intimidation. Besides, I told them already not to bother you, when you sent me that messenger hawk a week ago."

Kakashi nodded. "I still don't want to."

"And again, you have no choice. Now go, or I'll read _Icha-Icha Palace_ and then burn it right in front of you." Kakashi whined under his breath, yet he grabbed his porcelain mask and placing it on face, knowing not to argue with Rin when she was threatening him. Kakashi walked outside, keeping wide of the children as not to frighten them. They noticed him, and several little boys stopped and gaped at him, while the little girls giggled amongst themselves about what he might look like under the mask. He did his best to ignore the children, keeping his eye on the woods. He figured, if he didn't have a choice, he'd continue with Hinata's vigil. While he didn't have her eyes, he did have an amazing sense of smell, one that stretched a couple of kilometers if he focused more of his chakra into his nasal passages. Beyond that, he had decent chakra sensing abilities, and he also had a good sense of hearing.

Kakashi walked to a large slab of rock right on the edge of the property, sitting down on top of it and facing the house, watching the children play in front of the orphanage. In the back of his mind, he remembered that seemingly long period of his life; from the time he was six until he was twelve that he'd lived in an orphanage. He remembered how much he had hated having lived there, without anyone to talk to or understand where he was coming from. He'd felt so painfully alone. He could only sympathize with these kids; that they had to feel the same way he had. That they had the same question he had: _Why? Why do I have to be alone? _

"Excuse me."

Kakashi blinked, surprised that his sense of smell hadn't been alerted to the fact that someone foreign was nearing him. A small boy with short-cropped grey hair and wrappings around his eyes, his face turned towards the house. "You are in my spot."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Your spot?"

"Yes. I sit here a lot." The boy crawled onto the rock surface carefully, biting his bottom lip as he made his way towards the center of the slab. "But I guess it's okay that you're here. I would feel bad if I just chased you away." The boy turned his face towards Kakashi. "My name is Hayato. What's your name?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Dog," he said simply.

The boy gave a small smile, and Kakashi could only note that it was quite possibly the weirdest thing to be on this child's face—mostly because he found it inexplicably cute on his entire face, a fact Hatake Kakashi would _never _admit aloud. "Dog is not a name for a grown man, Oniisan. What is your real name?"

"Dog," repeated Kakashi, "All you have to know me as is Dog."

The boy sighed, but he continued to smile. "Are you alone, too, Dog-niisan?"

"No. I'm here with my friend. I'm visiting Rei-chan," he responded, trying to remain as vague as possible.

"Miss Rei has friends?" Hayato asked. Kakashi was sure that behind the wrappings, Hayato was raising an eyebrow.

"Not many. I'm an old friend."

"Oh. Okay." Hayato turned away, angling his face as to let the breeze lift some of his overlong hairs off of his face. Kakashi watched him with a curiosity that he didn't even know he had, especially for children. Usually, for children below the age of ten, he quickly lost patience. Young children were annoying, and sometimes idiotic; and had a small frame of knowledge. But, for some reason… this kid wasn't annoying him. He was actually quite interesting. Kakashi would admit, maybe it was partially because of the wrappings around his eyes, but… it was something else, too. What, he didn't know—but something. Kakashi sighed under his breath and turned his attention towards the other kids outside, who had stopped playing and were whispering, staring at… at the boy next to him.

"Do you know they stare at you?" Kakashi found himself asking.

"Yeah," responded the boy honestly, "I can feel it, and Miss Rei told me a while ago. But they've been staring at me since I first came here, five months ago. I'm used to it now." He nibbled at his bottom lip slightly. "They think I'm weird, because I can't see anymore." His fingers drifted up to the wrappings. "My papa was mad at my mama, so he took what she loved most about me. At least, that's what my mama told me, before… before she died."

"Sorry," Kakashi said without thinking.

The boy angled his face, confused. "For what?"

"For… for your mother."

"Oh. Don't be sorry. My mama's happier now. My mama was never really happy with my papa. I'm just sad she left me alone with my papa. But now I'm glad that I'm not with my papa anymore."

"Did he die?" asked Kakashi, curious.

"I dunno. I lost him in a crowd six months ago. I never found him. Miss Rei found me and she brought me here five months ago." He smiled sadly. "Do you have a mama and a papa, Dog-niisan?"

"Hmm…? No. They died a long time ago."

"What were their names?"

"Their names… their names were Dog-Okāsan and Dog-Otōsan."

Hayato giggled. "That couldn't really be their names!" he said, smiling widely, confusing Kakashi more. Why didn't he find this little boy annoying? Why couldn't he find him annoying? Sure, the kid had a lot to say, and usually this would piss him off, but he… he couldn't get enough of it. He just wanted to hear this little boy's voice. He wanted to spend time with this boy. Kakashi's mind began to race, trying to figure out why he didn't mind this little boy. There was nothing truly special about him—silvery blue hair that seemed to defy gravity slightly before falling to the side, all of it pushed to the right side of his face, slightly darkened skin; small, skinny body—what was so different about him?

"What was your mother's name?" asked Kakashi out of the blue, confusing his own self.

"My mama?" Hayato bit his lip. "I dunno how to pronounce my mama's name. She never taught me. I've only heard it once, but I've seen it spelled a lot, before my papa… you know."

"Do the best you can," Kakashi urged. Why did he care so much? He didn't know. _I don't know why, but I really want to know. I want to know who gave birth to this boy… _

"O-Okay…" said Hayato, his lip-biting drawing the slightest amount of blood from himself and concern from Kakashi. "Her first name was Ch-Chee-yo-yay," fumbled the young boy, who seemed flustered with the task of both pronunciation and remembering the name itself. "Her family name was H-Hah-tock-kay."

Kakashi felt like his heart stopped moving. "Do you mean Hatake?" he asked, hesitant. "Hatake Chiyoye?"

Hayato's face brightened. "Yeah! That was it!" His smile faltered some. "Did you know her, Dog-niisan?"

_All too well, _Kakashi thought. It all just snapped into perspective. From the shape of this boy's mouth to small tinting of blue in his hair—Kakashi could see _her _in him. "I must go," said Kakashi without thinking, all but jumping off of the slab of stone and resisting the urge to run. His whole world was flipping over, and it was freaking him out, immensely.

"Sayonara," said the boy politely, confused as Kakashi all but ran away from him. Kakashi was more than happy to reenter the house, his breath uncharacteristically heavy. He knew he should calm down, but he just couldn't. He knew he was freaking out, but he couldn't stop himself. Well, he could; only with one thing—hard and immediate training.

* * *

Okay, looking back on his response with a more critical eye, hard training wasn't exactly the best route for him to take, considering his idea of hard training was to continuously use the Sharingan while he threw kunai at random things (after all, it was an orphanage; not a training area, there was practically nothing for him to aim at except for trees and small animals that were on the outskirts of the orphanage). Plus, training had done nothing to get his mind off of it, except for physically and mentally exhausting him and using up his chakra supply with the Sharingan. He barely made it back inside the door to Rin's small house before he collapsed against the door, breathing heavy, his lids way too heavy for him to even think about being conscious. Dimly, he heard a female voice asking him if he was okay, if he needed help; but he couldn't hear one damned thing clearly, besides that insistent ringing in both of his ears.

He slid down the door in a messy heap, finding that his world was spinning, making him feel dizzy—also due to his exhaustion. He could make out two women in front of him—one with dark indigo hair, the other with brown hair—but, for the life of him he couldn't remember either of their names.

All he could do was… pass the fuck out.

Rin blinked, staring at the suddenly limp body that was Hatake Kakashi. The Kakashi she knew would never faint, unwillingly or willingly, so the chances that he'd had a panic attack that managed to induce fainting was a bit off-target. More accurately, and judging also by the amount of sweat on his visible skin after she pulled off the porcelain mask, he'd trained himself to the point of exhaustion, which, considering he'd been gone for more than three hours, really did make more sense. She sighed, playing with Kakashi's porcelain dog mask for a minute before placing it off to the side. She turned to the stunned Hyūga heiress, saying, "I'll take his upper if you take his lower."

Five minutes later, the two kunoichi had managed to get the unconscious copy nin onto the sofa, both breathing heavy with the effort. While he was physically fit and lean for most men his size, he was still a tall man, and as such… he weighed more, a lot more than the two of them. If Kakashi was on the lower side of the scale, Rin was absolutely scared of the prospect of trying to lift someone like Gai.

"Why was he working himself to the bone?" asked Hinata in an almost silent voice, pushing the overlong strands of silver hair from Kakashi's face. _She does know him very well, doesn't she?_ Rin thought, resisting the urge to smile. Instead, Rin shrugged, raising her hand to Kakashi's forehead and quickly pulling off his Leaf headband, trying to allow him to properly sweat instead of having it inhibited by the cloth of the hitai-ate. She raised a hand hover over Kakashi's unnatural eye, enveloping the appendage in green. Quite possibly, she figured that his exhaustion was due to the mental stress of the Sharingan rather than just the chakra over-usage, but just in case… she was sending some of her own chakra directly into the organ she transplanted, sending her healing waves through the eye and into the rest of his body via chakra networking.

Hinata watched on with major concern for her teacher, whom she had come to see as some sort of family member. She was still mad at him for expecting her not to be mad at him for forgiving Uchiha Obito, but—she couldn't help but pity him, at this moment. Whatever was making him feel as distressed as to pass out—something she, herself, had done quite often—was something she didn't want him to feel.

"He probably knew you wouldn't agree with it, you know," admitted Rin, who looked up at the younger girl. Hinata looked up at her, uncertainty in her eyes. "Kakashi isn't stupid. He knows when people possibly will not like something, especially when it comes to the village in particular. Most of the time, he'd give up whatever trip he's on for the village, or for the people close to him. But… this is different." She swallowed. "Obito is the first person who saw Kakashi as _Kakashi_. Obito was the first person Kakashi would ever consider to be a friend of any sort. He's an unresolved source of immense guilt within him. Kakashi couldn't just allow his friend to die."

"Obito hurt me," whispered Hinata.

"He knows. He told me. That's why he was afraid to tell you."

"Afraid sounds like a little bit of an overstatement. My opinion doesn't matter that much to him," mumbled Hinata.

"Don't be ridiculous," sputtered Rin, eyes wide. "You severely underestimate the emotions of Kakashi. Yeah, sure, he sucks at showing them. That doesn't mean they're not there." Rin sighed. "He would never tell you this, but… legally speaking, Kakashi is your godfather." Hinata blinked and looked up, surprised. Rin gave a small, meek smile. "He's known you since you were tiny. He used to show me pictures of you. It was adorable, actually; to see how much he loved you. For a long time, he didn't even realize he was boasting about you, until his team came along. Since then, he's been more conscious of his feelings and his desires, and he's expressed his desire to me about wanting to keep your respect of him at the highest possible point. You're like his niece, Nata-chan. The last thing he wanted to do to you was save the life of someone who brought you harm."

Hinata bit her lip. "W-Why hasn't he said anything to me?"

Rin shrugged. "He didn't see the need. You seem to already adore him as some sort of major family member in your life—that's more than obvious to me, anyways—and I guess he just didn't see the need to tell you about it. It's probably one of the very few major things he hides from you, Hinata."

"He hides a lot?"

"You'd think that, but honestly, he really doesn't. Kakashi is pretty much an open book. You know more than you think about him, and I won't explain myself at all. I'll just ask one question of you: how many times has he shown you his face, Hinata?"

She blinked, and then frowned, her brow furrowing as she came up with a numerical value. Ever since that time in Kumogakure when she was fourteen, the amount of times she'd seen his face increased exponentially.

Rin seemed to be able to read her face easily. "Hinata, I can count on one hand the amount of people I've met that he's shown his face at all. All of them were important to him in some way. Trust me, Hinata—if he shows you his face, you mean something to him."

Hinata swallowed, seemingly processing the information. She had already known that Kakashi had trouble expressing his emotions to people, and she had thought that she knew a lot about him; but Rin was giving her something she'd never noticed before. She had never known about any of this, and she wish she had before she got mad at him. She meant something to him; her opinion meant something to him. "H-How…" she swallowed dryly again. "How much has he given up for the people he cares about?"

Rin chuckled. "I know a lot about Kakashi, but Hinata… that's probably the one thing nobody will ever know. All I can tell you is… since Obito's disappearance, I'm pretty sure his entire life has been about giving up things for those he cares about."

Hinata nodded, swallowing the information. Her mind was moving at a rapid pace, almost too quickly for one person to really be fully thinking through anything. She was already losing count of all the possible occasions where Kakashi had given up something for her just to make her happy, just to please her. How unfair would it be of her to be mad at him for finally doing something that made him happy? How cruel would it be of her? Without thinking, she ran her slender fingers through Kakashi's sweat-slicked silver hair, a motion she had the barest memory of her father doing for her when she was a very young girl, during times that she was sick.

Kakashi's eyebrow twitched, and he slowly opened one dark gray eye, finding it difficult to concentrate on the young girl above his face. "Hinata?" he mumbled, confused. "What happened?"

She didn't respond to him with words; she just continued to run her fingers through Kakashi's overlong hair. She was barely managing to resist the urge to cry, but it was a battle she was losing terribly. She really hated showing people her tears, but she just couldn't help herself. "You silly old man," she said with a wobbly, shaky smile. "You, silly, silly old man." She pressed her forehead against his. "Silly old man."

"Hinata?" he asked, growing increasingly confused and worried.

She didn't respond to him, but she did speak. "Rin?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?" she asked, surprised she was addressed, and not Kakashi.

"Do… Do you think tomorrow morning at dawn will be too early to bring Obito-san here?" she whispered.

Just the mention of his name brought a wide smile to Rin's face. _Finally. _"No. No, I don't."

* * *

Kakashi made a decision not to be there after he unlocked the seal. He didn't want to impede on Rin's moment, apparently; a fact that made his friend break down with tears. Of course, that didn't mean that he wasn't watching their moment—in fact, he and Hinata stood only thirty meters out of Rin's range, finding it to be the easiest thing in the world to watch from their high point in a tree. Hinata sat close to the older man, her pale lavender eyes trained on the same sight as Kakashi's dark grey eyes.

The two of them watched Rin bite her thumb, watched her hands fumble their way through the seals; the cause of which they both knew to be due to the fact that Rin had not practiced ninjutsu like they had in many years. They watched as she brought her bloodied hand down onto the scroll's seal, and they watched as she stepped away from the cloud of smoke that appeared; her lithe body tense and filled with slight fear.

Fear that disappeared as soon as the smoke cleared. In fact, any negative emotion she was feeling just slipped off her body as she beheld the figure before her, whose onyx eyes were softly beholding her. The air lost any terseness, and Hinata could plainly see that all that was left was love—absolute love. Hinata couldn't hear her speak, but she knew plainly what she said by reading her lips.

"Obito."

The man in question smiled, and Hinata could recognize the same emotion radiating off of him. In her mind, subconsciously, she made an immediate distinction from the man who had been responsible for her temporary missing-nin status and the man in front of this kind woman she'd come to adore. This man was kind, and she could see plainly why Kakashi had wanted to save him. All she could think of was her own friends, and how she would do the very same for them.

The man's lips moved. "Rin."

Finally, Rin broke, breaking down in tears of pure happiness as she tackled her long-lost love to the ground. Hinata smiled at that—was she like that with Kankurō?—as Kakashi stood up, a small smile in his dark gray eye. "Are we leaving?" Hinata asked, not taking her eyes off of the sight before her.

"Soon," he replied in an obviously uneasy voice, "There's one more thing I need to do before I leave."

"What is it? I can help," she immediately offered, jumping to her feet and turning to Kakashi, who was surprised by her offer.

"I, umm—I'm not quite sure it's something you can help with…"

"Kakashi," she said in a confident tone, a small smile on her face. "Please, Kakashi. Tell me what it is. I want to do whatever is possible to help you with any subject. I don't want you to do whatever it is that you're going to try alone, especially when you sound so uneasy about it. I would just like to help you, in whatever way possible."

Kakashi stared at her for a moment, and then sighed. "Do you mean that, Hinata?"

"Wholeheartedly," she said. "Please, Kakashi, let me help you."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, Hinata. I'll tell you what I need help with, but you have to promise that you won't… overreact. Can you promise me that?" She nodded quickly, enthusiastically. He closed his eye and sighed again. "Okay. What I'm going to do is… I'm going to adopt a young boy named Hayato." Hinata blinked. Okay, she wasn't expecting that—nor did she expect him to keep going. "He lives here at the orphanage. I just met him for the first time today. I… he's… well, I guess there's no easy way to say it, really, so I'm just going to say it. He's my son."

* * *

_**I got a review for 'Of Strength' the other day saying that the fact that a Genin (it said Gemini, but I just pinned it down to AutoCorrect) threatening a Jounin was improbable, and that the story is, for lack of better terminology at the moment, far-stretched. I couldn't estimate for where the Guest reader may be so I could respond, so I'm responding here: Kakashi had a quote during the first real arc of the manga (Land of Waves arc) that said: **__"I can see where a thing like that would be hard to accept… but it's a fact you'll have to live with. This probably won't be the last time we run into a kid who's both younger than you… and stronger than me." __**The point of the character of Shikaru [Obito] is that he's undeveloped, raw power with a murderous side and a conscience. He is a child who can threaten an adult and get away with it for the fact that it's the truth-every child's dream, I suppose, but he's got to live with why. And about the story being far-fetched... lol. The story that these two fics are based off of are the definition of far-fetched! But they're fantasy, so anything can be made and as long as you have enough justification-which, I believe I provided. But thanks for the review, though-I enjoy getting chances to explain myself when I don't in my stories, especially in the earlier chapters when I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. **_

_**To **__**sailorangelmoon1**__**: glad to know you liked it! The same goes for **__**TheUtsukushiiYume**__**; thanks for your reviews! It made this authoress pretty damn proud! **_

_**Okay, I have an excuse for why it took me two weeks to upload. I got so into writing that I completely forgot the pace I was supposed to be on. I was only supposed to be only ten or so chapters ahead, but... I dunno, last week, I got so into editing and rewriting chapters and adding chapters and MORE editing that I completely forgot that I had to post something. I'm just really excited about this story, because it has a plot, and it's going somewhere :) It kind of developed like 'Of Strength', actually. (Not saying it's LIKE the same plot, but I'm saying the development process was basically the same). **_

_**The song of this chapter is 'Move Along' by the All-American Rejects. 'Dirty Little Secret' is on the same album, and they're two of my favorite songs of all time, from any band that I listen to (which ranges from AC/DC to Sleeping With Sirens to Hollywood Undead to the Script). **_

_**I didn't get many reviews for the last chapter (okay, not a total truth, I got two, which is more than what 'Of Strength' started off with), but what bothers me is that a lot of people wanted a sequel, and I know they don't realize that it's already out. It's really bumming me out :( and I don't want to bother them by sending PMs, because that would be sick and needy and annoying. But hopefully, they'll find the story. This one's looking to be a long one, so I think there's time. **_

_**Read&Review? :D**_


	4. Chapter 3: Legends, Pt 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **_

* * *

_LEGEND_

_/ˈlejənd/_

_An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical._

* * *

Stories are simple. They are beginning and ending. They are temporary escapes from the boring usualness that is everyday life. Stories are appreciated, and then promptly ignored. Few stories, that actually deserve recognition, actually get any recognition from anyone. They hardly ever make it to the light of day, which often makes stories one of the world's greatest tragedies.

Legends, however, are different. They are the tales of great people who have managed to alter the world as we know it. No one forgets a legend, nor does anyone ignore a legend's lesson, with the exception of the stupid. Legends define people and lands; societies. People may say that pure power makes kingdoms rise and fall, but the truth of the matter is that legends are the things that make people respect you. Legends carry a greater power than one can achieve on their own. Legends are created through the cooperative help of multiple people; multiple lives. It simply happens to be focused on one central character.

At least, this is what Naruto believes. Naruto believes in the power of a legend. People are created by other people, and Naruto knows this. He also knows that people are simply the result of their surroundings, and what they do with this result is what makes their legends known by the world. He also believes that there are no such things as an ending when it comes to a legend. So long as humankind has faith, he thinks that a legend lives on and never closes—never dies. Therefore—Naruto believes that the legend of the Bloodied-Eyed Demon of the Earth is not over. Rather, it is simply beginning. While it may come from bad routes, it is destined to become something greater still.

Naruto is very much aware of the fact that the Demon in question does not feel the same way; nor does Naruto expect him to. His student is the self-depreciative type… no. Actually, self-depreciative isn't the right terminology. He doesn't know what to call his student. Self-depreciative is too little of a descriptor, but self-hating is far too much. He only hates one side of himself, after all; and from what Naruto can see he was changing that opinion rapidly. He wished that there was a middle option, between depreciation and hatred, but there really isn't.

It doesn't truly matter, Naruto finally figures. What mattered was what this kid was the definition of, not what defined him, and Naruto knew him to be the anti-hero archetype; often showcased in the best legends. This boy would make as much of a difference as Naruto knew he'd made himself upon the world of the shinobi. Actually, he already had made this difference already. Naruto was an idiot, and even he could see this. He could see this kid would leave. He could see that this kid was going to leave a legend that would never die—

The legend of Nara Obito.

* * *

Obito would have to be an idiot to think that he hadn't changed in the past four years. He believed he'd made much positive advancement over the years—he'd gained more control over his emotions, which was a definite good thing. He'd also gained a better outlook on life, having spent a majority of his time in the company of many people who didn't truly care about the things he'd done in his life, bad or good, and just saw him as a person rather than a reformed monster. If anything, he became almost vaguely like a teenaged boy should be, albeit a little calmer, and a highly trained and deadly shinobi.

The fact that he became like a teenaged boy was, in part, a negative change. He didn't know when he'd started such a habit, but he'd developed a need to stare at women's chests, or their asses; as well as a deep obsession with sex. Not that he'd actually partaken in such a thing, per say, but he couldn't help but wonder what it'd be like, a perfectly natural thing for any teenager, regardless of gender. He'd also become horribly and unjustifiably used to waking up with a random hard-on, a fact that unfortunately did not go unknown about by his traveling companions. That was also a negative advancement, quite possibly, and the worst one yet—because they'd noticed his morning woods (as they called it as so bluntly) one of his traveling companions was responsible for getting him into erotica, specifically that the companion in question was quite possibly best known for.

"So, did you finish the manuscript for the chapter I gave you? What did you think of it?"

Obito shrugged. "Eh. It was alright," he responded in a careless voice. He couldn't remember when he'd become the beta-reader for the Ero-Sannin himself, Jiraiya, or why he'd agreed to it; but could only accept that it was his reality.

Jiraiya's eyes seemed to bug out of his head. "What do you mean, 'It was alright'?! What was wrong with it?!"

Obito sighed and looked down at the travel journal he held in his hands, which had been transformed into the latest chapter of one of Jiraiya's erotic love novels. "I mean, I liked the way you took it, don't get me wrong. I thought it was an interesting twist that Akana was once the mistress of Harō's brother and had a miscarriage, explaining why she is hesitant to be with Harō. But… honestly, I think Harō's reaction was slightly unrealistic. He wasn't nearly as surprised as he should've been, I think. And the sex… with Harō's personality, I don't think the sex was halfway near what Harō would really do, should he be real; especially since it is the first time they made love. Sorry, but he just didn't seem like he was the star in some soft hotel porn." _My younger self would be stabbing me in the throat with a spoon right now if he saw this,_ he thought, but immediately pushed the knowledge away.

Jiraiya nodded enthusiastically, taking into consideration what he was saying. "Yes, yes, yes!" he said, smiling wide. "You're right! I made that sex scene way too gentle! I was afraid of going for what I really wanted to do, but I think I'll try it! How rough should I make him, do you think?"

"Well, not enough to make her bleed. But definitely fast-paced, and raw. There should definitely be some hickeys. Rough fondling, too—personally, I was expecting more things about her breasts, like in chapter five. You should try to do that." He was absolutely sure that somewhere, deep down inside him, his thirteen-year-old self was stabbing himself in the eye. He knew he should feel dirty, and guilty for giving advice on how to write a sex scene to a man more than triple his age, and definitely perverted for thinking about sex, but he had justified it six ways to Sunday for a long time. This was just a natural part of him now.

Jiraiya took back his journal, ripping out the pages and beginning fresh page, his nose almost buried in the pages of what he planned to be chapter ten of his latest, untitled Icha-Icha novel. "What about foreplay? Should I include foreplay, or go straight to the sex?"

"Foreplay. Hot foreplay," Obito said, nodding.

Jiraiya pointed at him with his pen. "I can't stress this enough. You're the best brat I've ever trained."

Obito smirked. "You only say that because I help you write your porn," he responded jokingly.

"Stop," Naruto finally said, holding his hands up high in the air. The Uzumaki had been trying his very best to remain calm and quiet with the conversation at hand, but they both knew fully well that Naruto was a deep closet pervert, even if he was renowned for his Sexy no Jutsu, and he had a certain discomfort with even thinking about sex in such an objectifying manner. "I tried to be patient, but fuck almighty! Why can't you guys talk about anything other than those books for once?! Dattebayo!" He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at his two companions—his student, and his teacher. "I'm trying to compose this message to send back to Konoha!"

Obito managed to barely withhold his laughter. "Sorry, Naruto-sensei," he said honestly, "I just wanted to help Jiraiya-sempai."

"Well, stop it. It's weird," said Naruto, his frown deepening. "Your aunt is gonna kill me when she figures out that I turned her innocent nephew into a sex fiend. And then your cousin will bring me back to life and aid your uncle in killing me. Then I think your dad has dibs." He closed his eyes. "You're seventeen, Obito; you shouldn't be test-reading a geezer's porn! And you!" His blue eyes snapped open, and he pointed to his godfather. "You should not be _aiding and abetting _this crap! Have you no shame, dattebayo?!"

Jiraiya chuckled. "You know the answer to that. I have no issues with bringing out people's inner pervert."

"Normal people don't say that, asshole!" barked Naruto angrily.

"You have no room to judge! _Icha-Icha Lifestyle _put the series back on the map!" Jiraiya retorted. "If it wasn't for that, I would've never written _Palace_! You would've never found me!"

"Sometimes, I think that I _shouldn't_ have written it! Maybe then I would've never looked for you!"

"Oh, you fucking brat!"

"You fucking pervert!"

"Don't scorn the name of perverts!"

Obito sighed and continued to walk forwards, instinctively tuning out the childish argument the master and the disciple were engaged in. Ever since they'd found him two and half years ago, the two had the same argument at least twice a day. Obito stopped taking it seriously after the eighth or ninth one. They were two explosive individuals with frighteningly similar personalities. They were bound to attack each other; it was the only way they could show their care for one another. He knew that Naruto had broken down in tears when they had found Jiraiya, and more than once (when Naruto was asleep or just plain oblivious, of course) Jiraiya admitted that he was glad that he was back in his godson's life.

He knew that the argument wouldn't end in physical violence, nor would it last very long, so he was content to let his mind wander off. He let himself think about home, to which they were headed. He thought about how he might be received, about how much might've changed. He wondered if half of the group he had gone to the Academy with even remembered him, or if the Uchiha had made any big achievements. All he really knew that happened was that Shikamaru's child was born—a healthy baby boy Temari named Soyokaze. Other than that, he knew he was clueless.

He was especially clueless on the topic of Hanabi. She'd never sent him any sort of mail, nor had Naruto received any word about her that he told him about. It was basically as if she'd dropped off the face of his world, a fact that practically made him want to puke. If anything about these past four years had been painful, it was that he had to spend them away from her. Even all this time later, he loved her. Deeply and truly loved her. The only reason he was really rushing their movement back to Konoha was because he wanted to see her again. He wanted to hear her voice. And, now that she was older… he wanted to be with her.

Just thinking about going back to her sent a shiver down his spine, a shiver of pure pleasure. He couldn't wait to get back… he couldn't wait to see the girl he was in love with. He couldn't wait to make her _his _Hanabi.

The two older men watched the teenager silently, having had ended the argument minutes ago. Naruto could just tell he was thinking about the younger Hyūga, and for the umpteenth time, he felt slightly apprehensive. He hadn't received any information about Hanabi for a reason, and he wasn't sure it was good. It wasn't that he thought she was dead—they would've been notified, definitely—but to hear _absolutely nothing _was worrisome.

He'd heard nothing about Shizuka, either, and it was actually very troubling. He knew that Shizuka's training with Gaara was above top secret, but, really? Not even a peep? Not even one piece of mail? What the hell was that? He had no idea what Shizuka had been up to in the past four years or even if he was alive. He couldn't help but wonder: what happened to him?

* * *

The boy clothed in the style of those who resided in the desert flew from branch to branch, laughing loudly and full-heartedly with happiness and excitement. He was almost like a squirrel, in those dark wrappings, strands of his overlong dark brown hair bleached blonde by the ever-present sun that resided in the desert. The only thing about him that hinted to the idea that he was a foreigner was the Konohagakure symbol on his hitai-ate, showing the world that he was the property of the Hidden Leaf, not Sunagakure, where he looked like he had lived.

Which he had; with its Kazekage. The Kazekage in question kept to the forest floor, his jade eyes watching his young student with mild interest and amusement. The boy was sixteen and probably too mature for his age, but he had moments when he allowed himself to be young again. Gaara simply chuckled, allowing the boy to be a child.

Matsuri giggled, more amused by Shizuka than Gaara was. "I almost forgot how old he was," she said, smiling widely.

"Gaara-sensei! Matsu-neechan!" said Shizuka, landing on the forest floor at their feet, his face flushed and breath coming to him in pants. "I almost forgot what trees looked like!" he admitted, standing up. He wasn't very tall—he was the same height as Gaara—but he somehow demanded attention.

Gaara chuckled. "I'm glad you're excited, but can I ask you not to run off? I'd hate to expend energy chasing after you. I'm too old to chase you."

Shizuka frowned and stared at him. "Gaara-sensei, you're only four years older than I am," he responded, "You're not old."

"You have no idea what being Kazekage does to you," said Gaara, smirking lightly. "There are so many negotiations, so many idiots in politics. Their stupidity ages you, Shizuka, in ways I cannot explain to you." Shizuka and Matsuri both laughed, amused by the tired sound in Gaara's voice. They had a running bet in Sunagakure with several other shinobi that the source of Gaara's insomnia was nightmares, and the bet was what the nightmare was. Baki was guessing something politically-aligned. Most of the women were hoping it was problems with his family so they could console him, but thankfully Matsuri was not one of these ladies. Shizuka's own bet was simply that he had nightmares about the prospect of having nightmares.

"At least you're taking a break," Matsuri tried.

Gaara sneered. "Some break. I'm leaving Suna in order to go to Konoha to talk about land treaties."

"And to visit your nephew…" said Shizuka with a smirk, trailing off in a sing-song voice. Gaara growled under his breath at him, embarrassed. He adored his nephew, and doted on the boy whenever humanly possible. While he had no interest in having a child of his own, his nephew was adorable. He spoiled Soyokaze, much to Shikamaru and Temari's dismay both, but much to Shizuka's absolute amusement. Matsuri giggled, covering her mouth with her hand in order to avoid the growl coming from him aimed at her. She didn't know how Shizuka could take it like he did, but she couldn't, having had grown up hearing stories about Gaara's murders.

"Shouldn't you be worried about going back?" growled Gaara, walking forwards in order to hide his blush from his students, who had turned into giggling messes within seconds.

Truth be told, Shizuka was worried. He'd never been well accepted home, and he wasn't totally sure what was there for him. It'd never really felt like a place he had belonged, and he doubted what was waiting for him was absolutely good. As Matsuri continued to giggle, he pulled out his scroll, filled with medical techniques he had tried out there, as well as a list of minerals, herbs, concoctions and other important items he had experimented on. He was heading back having had found enough data to present to the medical boards, but he was unsure of his future from there. Would he stay? Would he leave? He didn't know. What he did know was, what was in that scroll would be very important for Hanabi—very important indeed.

So he shook his head, smiling wide. "Nope. I'm not. I'm excited. I can't wait!" he yelled out as he took to the trees once more. "I get to see my friends again!"

Gaara's smile slid slightly, his uneasiness returning. In the messages from Konohagakure during the course of Shizuka's training, not once were any of his old teammates mentioned. But it wasn't the lack of information that had worried Gaara—it was where the information was going through. He sent one of his Chūnin to track the information scroll he sent back with a Leaf messenger a couple of weeks back, only for the Chūnin's corpse to show up in the sands two weeks later. Fortunately, this was around the time for the Chūnin examinations, so before the selected teams of Sunagakure Genin went on their way, he gave them a singular scroll that could only be opened by a Kage's seal of approval, the contents of which were simple and to the point:

_Your Leaf whispers secrets to others. Give the Leaf no more secrets for the Sand. The Sand will bury the falling Leaf. _

A week later, the traitorous messenger showed up dead on the very edge of Sunagakure's borders.

* * *

"I think I need to find someone to get into a relationship with."

If Shisui still had eyes, he definitely would've blinked. It was a hard thing to do, to surprise him, but if anyone was capable of doing it, it'd only make sense that it would not only be another Uchiha—but his best friend, probably the most sensible Uchiha of the bunch. Itachi didn't just say or do things without thinking of them first; thought was most definitely a part of him. So for him to say a ridiculously vague thing such as 'I need to find someone to get into a relationship with' was well worth the surprise it was given. More than worth it, in fact; in Shisui's opinion.

"What?" Shisui finally managed to say when intelligible and full vocal functions finally came back to him. "I'm sorry, maybe I had a momentary lapse in actual thought, but I could've sworn that _you_ just said you want to be in a relationship."

Shisui couldn't see him, but he could feel Itachi's glare at him. "What're you saying, Shisui; am I not capable of having a relationship?"

"I… I never said that." In addition, Itachi was probably the only one who could fluster him, too, but mostly because the war that happened in the very beginning of Itachi's childhood had made him age way too fast, and showed him the intimidating side of his father, a side he tended to mirror occasionally. "It's just that you've never been particularly bothered before… and by particularly, I mean never. You've had a girlfriend, but you were never particularly bothered to keep her. Why another?"

"I was never specific," grumbled Itachi.

"Well, Itachi, do you want a boy?"

"Well, no…"

"'Well, no…' nothing, Itachi. Answer my previous question. Why do you want another girlfriend?"

Shisui couldn't really see—seeing the wisps of chakra running through a human body isn't something he could justifiably call truly _seeing_—but he knew a shrug when he 'saw' one. Itachi didn't usually shrug. Shrugging was a show of feigned indifference. He reached forwards, touching Itachi's cheek and confirming his suspicion, a grin growing on his face. "Itachi, you've got a crush, don't you?"

"No," he grumbled, swatting his friend's hand away from his hot cheeks. "Moron. Why are you always interested in people's lives like this?"

Shisui raised his hands in defense. "You're the one who said he wanted a relationship, Itachi, not me. You brought up this conversation—moreover; you brought up this subject in my presence. I'm your best friend, and I'm naturally nosy when it comes to the lives of those closest to me. So, tell me, who's the lucky lady that you wish to be with, Itachi? Is it a civilian girl? You always rather liked the civilian girls…"

"She's not a civilian girl," Itachi whispered, turning his head away from his friend—probably blushing—and wrung his hands—another display of his embarrassment. Oh, he really liked this girl, didn't he? He was getting flustered, something he had thought Itachi was incapable of ever being. He was always much too cool for being flustered, even when he was a young kid. "Far from being a civilian."

"Oh, so she's a kunoichi, then. You were never really into other shinobi, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Who?" Itachi mumbled something incomprehensible, making Shisui frown in confusion. "Sorry, 'Tachi, I may be going deaf with my not-old age. Wanna repeat those mumbled words, my friend." He spoke again in the same murmur, making a vein in Shisui's head pulse painfully hard. "Okay, I'm not gonna be polite about this. Uchiha Itachi, goddammit, tell me who this girl is or I'll tell Anko that you have naked pictures of her under your pillow."

"You wouldn't," responded Itachi in a threatening voice.

"I would. Now, tell me goddammit, before I go find Anko right now and I tell her every lie I came up with, so help me God!"

"Fine! I'll tell you, you Sonovabitch! Just shut the fuck up!" snapped Itachi, irritated, as he looked down at the table between the two of them, and then rubbed his forehead. "Erm… Inuzuka Hana…"

Uchiha Shisui wasn't a man easily surprised, and if he was, it was probably once in one day. By his estimation, Uchiha Itachi had to not only one of the few to be able to surprise him whenever he wanted, but also the only one to be able to do it twice in what had to be only five minutes. This was a feat worthy of note—to surprise Uchiha Shisui, whose spy networks were almost better than those of Jiraiya, who had spent decades amassing his. Shisui knew everything about the village and the people in it, and he prided himself on this fact, but there were some moments when his absolute knowledge was seemingly avoided by some of the most embarrassingly simple facts. Thankfully, they didn't happen often, but when they did, they seemed to almost always involve Itachi. In the back of his mind, he wondered if it was because of Itachi's ability to surprise him multiple times that they were best friends. If that was honestly the golden reason, then he really needed to find a new best friend—because he really, really, _really _hated a fucking surprise.

* * *

_**Like I said, I did get completely into writing. Currently, I'm writing chapter 20 (I believe). I'm trying to update this whenever I actually remember, and today I remembered [cue applause]. :D **_

_**Thank you, **__**sailorangelmoon1**__**; for the review! I didn't know how well that one would be accepted, but I'm glad to see it was! And thanks **__**leesa323**__**-I was thinking someone might ask that. Unfortunately, after my edits, my explanation ended up in two different chapters (because I spawn a confusing thing in the next chapter, because I'm halfway sadistic sometimes, MWAHAHA). **_

_**The song of this chapter 'Kids In The Street' by, again, the All-American Rejects. It's the same song for the next chapter, too. Hopefully, again, my choice makes sense. **_


	5. Chapter 4: Legends, Pt 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

_LEGEND_

* * *

_/__ˈ__lej__ə__nd/_

_an unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical._

* * *

"_Nata-Neechan_! Nata-Neechan, Nata-Neechan, Nata-Neechan, _NATA-NEECHAN_!"

Hinata smiled as the eight-year-old boy ran out of the apartment and hugged Hinata around her waist, giggling a storm. The past four years of her life had held amazing changes—not just for her, but for Kakashi especially. The shinobi in question came through the doorway lazily, not bothering with his mask. He usually didn't around his son, around his apartment, and not around Hinata or even Sasuke anymore, due to the fact that the two shinobi were over enough for them to practically move in. He gave her an easy smile, gesturing for her to come into the apartment.

"Hayato, let Nata-chama in before you tackle her," the Hatake scolded lightly, his arms crossed over his chest. The excited child giggled and grabbed Hinata's hand, pulling her into the apartment he shared with his father, his gray eye filled with happiness to see this girl he considered to be like his older sister. Hinata made eye contact with the older shinobi, her smile and eyes saying her polite greetings for her. Kakashi simply shook his head at his young son, his smile growing by the second.

When he had told Hinata about Hayato's relation to him, he had expected her to freak out on him, or to judge him harshly. He forgot how much different Hinata was sometimes. She tended to adapt to situations in any way possible, and usually scarily quickly; whether by herself or with aid. So she had simply blinked and asked him to explain. Which he had, uneasily.

Hatake Chiyoye was a fellow clan member of his, and possibly the first Hatake he'd met in over a decade. The two formed a quick friendship, even though Chiyoye was not a Hatake by birth, like Kakashi was; a friendship that had quickly evolved into sex. He wouldn't say that he really _loved _Chiyoye like that, but he thought the sex was good and so did she. And then, one day, she just… disappeared. She never left a note as to why she left, only to not worry about her. Of course, he did worry about her, but after a while he just assumed she was never coming back.

And then… he found Hayato.

He had assumed that the boy was his son when he first saw him, an assumption that turned out to be correct after a paternity test that Tsunade forced upon him when he came back to Konohagakure with a four-year-old in tow. Truthfully, Kakashi really hadn't needed to. The Hatake clan had always been known for being slightly more canine in nature; specifically wolves. Wolves always knew, by some sort of instinct, who their young were, and so had Kakashi. He had instinctively known that Hayato was his pup from the moment the boy insisted on speaking to him; the boy only just confirmed it by telling him the name of his mother.

Hinata had managed to take this all in stride, somehow, and readily offered her help, although she herself had no idea how to deal with children. She helped Kakashi get Hayato adjusted to life in Konoha, to life in a village. She helped Kakashi to undo the damage that the bastard who had dared to call himself Hayato's father, with her clan's assistance.

Hayato was more than ready, for all obvious reasons, to accept the fresh start. He was accepting of the fact that Kakashi was, in fact, his biological father—actually, 'accepting' was the understatement of the century. He was ecstatic that someone like Kakashi was really his father. He didn't cry or whine or fight, really—he actually thanked him. Hayato adored Kakashi, he idolized him.

Kakashi, himself, had been uncertain about the kind of parent he could be to this boy—he'd lost his own when he was young, and he was never truly close with them to begin with. He'd spent a lot of time, as a young boy, at an orphanage, and he didn't know what a father figure was until he placed under the tutelage of Namikaze Minato. He decided, after a few confusing first days, that the type of parent he wanted to be was the parent Minato was to him, and to their team. He didn't quite realize that he already was that type of person already—to Hinata and to Sasuke, and neither of them felt like it mattered enough to tell him that he already was that parent.

"Otō taught me how to throw Fūma shuriken today!" the eight-year-old said cheerfully, sitting down next to the Hyūga heiress. "And he said that I throw better than most current Genin!"

"I don't believe it to be some sort of big challenge," said Hinata with a giggle. Neji complained about it often enough. She would admit it was a large surprise when Neji had made the decision to quit being an ANBU in order to teach, but she knew it had been because of a need to spread the Will of Fire that had developed in him just after the war, specifically the will to teach the incoming students that nothing could hold them back in this world.

She knew that despite his complaining, Neji actually deeply enjoyed teaching at the Academy; teaching the next generation. The frustrations were nothing he couldn't handle or figure out how to handle, and with his new job, it was easy to be around more as a husband for Tenten; and allowed them to properly keep track of their attempts to have children (though they weren't on a specific cycle, to be completely honest). They had been trying for over two years now, ever since they got married, but its difficulties showed. They took it in stride, though, saying that a baby would happen when it would happen.

"How was your mission?" asked Kakashi as he poured a cup of water for the young woman, placing it down on the coffee table in front of her. She had just returned from a mission the night before, one that had her gone for only a short two weeks.

"It was… uneventful," she said vaguely, taking a sip of the water, giving the same response she usually gave to Neji nowadays. Technically speaking, she could tell Kakashi full details. He was still a part of the ANBU team they had, though he was forced to take fewer missions than before in order to be a good father. But it was because of the presence of Hayato that she couldn't tell him—Hayato, despite being in the Academy, was, for all intents and purposes, a civilian.

Their ANBU team had changed after Neji resigned. Shikamaru had quit, like Neji, after a near-death experience at the hands of rogue samurai. After Neji had left, Itachi had reentered himself into the ANBU ranks, and had been assigned to their team. It had been hard at first, but they now had a good partnership, and they were a strong team. After Shikamaru left, nobody had been assigned to the team, so a majority of the time nowadays, it was just her and Itachi on missions. She didn't mind—she quite liked the odd, older Uchiha brother. He was amusing, with his off-color sense of humor and his constant habit for deadpanning the situation.

"Found nothing?" Kakashi pressed, raising one eyebrow.

"Nope. This guy is slippery. So we tracked for a couple of days, found the trail went cold, and came home," she said.

Hayato stuck out his bottom lip. "Why don't you go into the specifics when I'm around, Nata-neechan? You're always so vague. Why?" he asked, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest.

She smiled brightly and ruffled the pouting little boy's hair. "Sorry, but you don't have the clearance your father has. My hands are legally tied. I can't tell you."

"That sucks!" he said.

Kakashi chuckled. "True, but when you have our clearance when you grow up, you'll get to know what we're talking about," he said to his son, who brightened immediately at the prospect. Hinata giggled. She adored this boy. He was the little brother she never got the chance to have. When she looked at him, she didn't feel pain for having missed this opportunity in her early youth. She felt happiness that she was allowed to have this opportunity.

* * *

"Get up."

She gritted her teeth, pushing herself to her feet as best as she could, her legs shaking horribly with the work she was forcing them to do. She felt weak—not weak as in she couldn't do it, but weak as in she was exhausted. She just wanted to fall asleep, and a small part of her head was telling her to give up so she could. It was because of this small voice in the back of her head that she raised her trembling arm, holding a kunai out to brush against the tip of the katana pointed at her, her Byakugan bringing the world around her into sharp detail, every miniscule part.

He reared back to slice at her, and she kept an eye on his bicep muscles. She avoided it easily, by bending backwards and hitting the kunai against the blade, attempting to knock the blade out of his grip. When she couldn't, she didn't fret about it—instead, she kicked out his legs from underneath him, making the clone disappear in a puff of smoke. She instantly righted herself, making the tiger seal quickly as she whipped around, spewing out hot flames at two clones creeping up behind her. Within the next moment, she found herself kicked across the clearing, mentally cursing herself for not keeping a constant moving as to compensate for her blind spot.

She managed to twist midair, despite the aching in her bones, and landed feet-first in the dirt, sending more chakra to her eyes and increasing the fineness of her vision. Running at full speed, she jumped, narrowly avoiding the swinging blade by turning as quickly as possible in mid air. Before she completely flew over her attacker's outstretched arm, she grabbed his upper arm and threw him over her shoulder as soon as her feet hit the ground. Unfortunately, he grabbed her arm as well, bracing his foot against her shoulder and bringing her down to the ground shoulder-first.

She didn't spare a wince as she got back onto her feet once more, simply attacking once more. She sent a small amount of remaining chakra to her pressure points, waiting for him to make the slightest amount of contact with her upper arm to begin rotating rapidly, throwing him off of her. The moment she stopped rotating, she pulled her last shuriken out of her thigh holster, throwing it at the man with as much force as her rubbery arm allowed. Using his summoning band on his arm, he summoned a shuriken of his own and countered, much to her distaste—

"Stop," he ordered as soon as he saw she was reaching for another shuriken. She raised an eyebrow at him, her index finger twitching. He could tell that she thought it was unfair that he was calling it an end as soon as she'd gotten this far, but he figured that she was running out of tactical moves, as she was just resorting to throwing shuriken with all the strength of a six-year-old. She opened her mouth to argue, but he glared. "Hanabi…"

"Fine!" grounded out the fifteen-year-old Hyūga in a frustrated-sounding tone, glaring at her teacher and deactivating her Byakugan with an angry huff, placing her hands on her hips. He knew she wouldn't admit it, but she was tired, and she was probably starving—they had been training since nine o'clock that morning, and it was now two o'clock in the afternoon. He sighed and rolled his eyes at the guarded expression in her eyes.

_Why'd I get the difficult one? _Uchiha Sasuke wondered to himself as he made his way over to the young woman, taking her long, leanly muscled arm in his larger hand, making a quick seal of confrontation before he pressed his thumb onto her wrist, temporarily removing the cap on her chakra flow. She sighed in relief as chakra made its way through her system, making her feel so much better than before.

"Let's go eat," he said her as he picked up his fallen blade—when he dropped it, he didn't truly know—and placed it back in its sheathe.

"Eating's for pussies," said Hanabi vulgarly, and Sasuke sighed. He wasn't a prude or anything, but seriously, where did she get her language from? It wasn't like he used anything like that in front of her. The occasional 'shit' or 'fuck' was all he really used. "Let's keep training, sempai."

"You know that would be horrible for you. You'd become malnourished rather than stronger," replied Sasuke, rolling his eyes.

She shrugged. "I'm not hungry," she lied. A moment later, Sasuke could hear something akin to growling bears—an animal that didn't live in Konoha, much less inside the training field. He turned to her, raising one black eyebrow at his reddening student. "Okay, maybe I'm a little hungry," she admitted.

"Hanabi, we've been doing this since nine AM. It's fine to be a little hungry," chided Sasuke gently, shaking his head at his young student. He handed her back two kunai that weren't embedded in the trees, which she took gratefully. "Besides, _I'm_ hungry. And _I'm_ tired. _I_ want to go and eat. So we're _going_ to go eat."

Hanabi frowned, but said nothing. She simply put the kunai carefully back into place in the pouch, following her teacher out of the training field and onto the normal walkway. Soon, the pair were two in a road filled with many; nobody blinking twice at the sight of the Hyūga heiress' little sister and the Uchiha heir walking alongside each other, each of them bruised and beat up. One might say that it was because of the sheer amount of shinobi who lived in this village, but they knew the truth—it was because it was a very common occurrence, for these two to be walking around bruised and battered. It was no secret to any citizen that they were teacher and student, and it was no secret that whatever training they were doing, it was hard, physical fighting.

They were used to it by now. They had four years to get to used to it.

When they slipped into seats at Ichiraku, Hanabi quickly bent over, her overlong falling in front of her face. Moving quickly, she pulled it all together into a messy ponytail as she pulled herself up, blushing brightly as she slipped into her own seat. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, his onyx eyes virtually unreadable. Hanabi's eyes flitted around nervously. "What?" she asked.

"That chunk. It's not really in the ponytail," he replied as Teuchi came up to them, giving them his infamous smile. As Hanabi growled under her breath in frustration and fixed her ponytail, he ordered two large Naruto special bowls to stay. He cracked a hint of grin to see how frustrated the young girl was growing with her hair, and he resisted the urge to laugh at her.

"Oh, fuck it," she grumbled, letting her long hair cascade across her shoulders and down to the small of her back. She cracked her neck, groaning with pain. "Thank you, sempai."

"Least I could do for damaging you," replied Sasuke as Teuchi placed teas in front of them, which Sasuke took appreciatively. "But how do you feel today? Worse than two days ago? Or is the pain still lessening?" he asked, turning to the young girl.

Hanabi frowned as she thought about it. "Better, I think. I mean, it still hurts like a bitch, but it isn't as bad as when we first started. I mean, my eyes are still just as sore, but I already know that pain won't go away." Sasuke nodded, taking in the information as he went into his pocket, pulling out a small container of extra pills, shaking out the proper dosing of each medication and handing it to the girl. Hanabi exhaled a small laugh, taking the pills into her hand and tossing them quickly into her mouth. "You knew I forgot my medicine this morning?"

"Hanabi, I'm the one who woke you up this morning. Of course I knew you forgot about them," said Sasuke as their bowls of ramen were placed down in front of them. "These really aren't medicines you can afford to forget, Hanabi. You know your life depends on you taking these damned things, despite how troublesome it might be to take them."

Hanabi shrugged, taking a sip of her tea. She'd heard the speech countless times. It wasn't that she was unaffected by it, but she just very tired of hearing it. She knew her life was constantly at risk, all too well, actually. She raised a hand to her chest at the thought.

"Sometimes, I just don't want to think about it," she said with a sad grin. "Sometimes, I just want to pretend for a moment there's nothing wrong with my body."

Sasuke sighed, deciding not to pursue the subject. Truthfully, he hated when Hanabi bottled, but he really couldn't stop it from happening. She'd developed that habit a long time ago, long before he knew her, and he wasn't sure how to make her stop it. He did pity her—her 'affliction', as she called it, was something particular to her and her mother.

Basically, as far as Sasuke could understand, Hanabi's distant ancestor was the First Hokage, who was renowned for having the Wood Release. Therefore, the Wood Release was naturally in her blood, and while her DNA code supposedly allowed her to be able to use the kekkei genkai, her chakra just wouldn't allow the bloodline to come into use. This happened often with shinobi of multiple bloodline limits, but the case of the Wood Release was different. The Wood Release demanded prominence, and so it was constantly fighting against her body for use. As a result of the internal and uneven struggle, her insides were slowly turning into wood, an affliction that had been escalated when Neji had, basically, super-charged her lungs and aided the mutation unintentionally.

That medicine acted against it, attacking the cells that were beginning to turn from that of animal cell and into a plant cell, as well as keeping the mutation at bay. That medicine, those two-a-day pills, were all that stood between her and dying. Sasuke knew that had to make her want to scream with fear. What she had—it was basically like a cancer. She knew that one day, it would take her life. There was nothing she could do it about it, although she definitely wanted to. She didn't want to be like this, but she had no choice. So she had resolved to get stronger, so that even in her dying breaths, she could remain strong for those she cared about. She resolved to live, to make mistakes, to learn, to grow—because one day, she just wouldn't be able to. She would be too weak and too sick to be able to.

So Sasuke tried to help with that, by giving her a capper on her chakra. There was a direct correlation between the amount of chakra and stamina she expended and the growth rate of her disease. Capping her chakra for hours of the day, taking away its full extent, kept her that much more alive. He knew it made everything more difficult for her, but… but he just wanted her to live.

Yes, even Sasuke, with his world-hating complex and disdain towards having a social life, felt that everyone should have a chance at living.

"Sasuke-sempai," whispered Hanabi, taking Sasuke out of his thoughts. He looked over at his student, who stared down at her bowl of ramen, a hot blush covering her cheeks. "Sasuke-sempai, do you, um… do you think I'm pretty?"

_Eh? _"Eh?"

She rubbed the back of her head, her eyes looking everywhere but up at Sasuke. "I know you don't swing that way, but, honestly. You've got to have an opinion. Am I pretty to you?" she asked, biting her bottom lip, her cheeks getting hotter.

"Um… I guess," he responded, flustered. What kind of opinion could he possibly have about this? Sure, she was pretty enough. Why did he need to tell her that? Was this a trap?

She sighed. "You _guess_?" she mumbled.

"Sorry, but it was kind of out of left field, Hanabi," Sasuke responded in an irritated voice. "Why're you asking me, out of all possible people, if you're pretty?"

She fiddled her thumbs. "Um… whenever I'm out with Hinata, every guy stares at her. And she gets all sorts of gifts—flowers, stuffed animals, candy—delivered to our home for her from her admirers, despite the fact that she's engaged to Kankurō. But I don't get any of those things. No one looks at me _like that._" Her frown deepened. "Boys don't exactly approach me and confess their undying love like they do to Hinata… or to Tenten… or to _Moegi._ In fact, most of the time, they avoid me like the plague." She all but spat the name. "So, am I… ugly?"

Sasuke wondered, in the back of his mind, how he'd gotten into such situation. He knew enough of interacting with girls to know that neither of the two possible responses he could give would end well. In the case of saying yes, he'd have to give an actual reason as to why she was pretty and risk either sounding like a pig or telling her the truth—she did get looks from boys, she did get gifts delivered to her from boys, and she did sometimes even receive marriage proposals. In fact, if it hadn't been from the total effort of threatening from himself, Hinata, Kankurō, Neji, Tenten, and Hiashi; Sasuke had no doubts that every hormone-wrecked teenaged boy in Konoha would've confessed their undying love for her by now. No, that wouldn't go over well with her.

But, in the case of option two, which was saying no, he risked setting her off. And right now, with her capper seal on her chakra level opened, was not the time for him to be dealing with Hanabi's wrath. He wasn't sure he could pay for repairs to the damages inflicted upon Ichiraku, and he also knew Naruto wouldn't be happy when he came back to Konoha to find his beloved ramen stand destroyed.

Thankfully, he didn't have to answer.

"Hey, Hanabi," said Sarutobi Konohamaru as he slipped into the stool next to her, a wide grin on his face. The moment Hanabi turned her head around, Sasuke slipped out of his own stool, giving Teuchi the correct amount for the two ramen bowls before he left, as quickly as possible, so that when Hanabi turned around again, he seemed to have disappeared on her.

She frowned. "Wasn't my teacher just here…?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah… I guess Sasuke-san had something to do," said Konohamaru, his own brow wrinkling before it flattened out again, and his grin returned. "Hey, I was wondering, Hanabi…" The pale-eyed girl turned to Konohamaru, raising an eyebrow at the older boy. He took a second, to regain a sense of, well, _sense_. He had a large crush on her, for how long he didn't know, but what he did know was that every single time he looked at her, he found himself at a loss for words. Communication just seemed to become impossible. "Erm… if you'd want to… I mean…"

"Hanabi!" She turned around at the voice, smiling when she saw Hinata coming up to her with Hayato in tow, a masked Kakashi not following far behind her. Hayato let go of Hinata's hand and ran over to the young kunoichi, jumping into her waiting arms. Hinata shook her head, pushing her long locks behind her ear. She'd long outgrown her bangs, and she'd never been bothered to cut them back into shape. It made her more beautiful, Hanabi thought, without those damned bangs to hide her eyebrows.

Hanabi turned back to Konohamaru, who still seemed to be at a loss for words. "Sorry, Konohamaru, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to go," she apologized, getting up as Hayato slipped off of her. The young Hatake narrowed his dark grey eyes at Konohamaru, making him shiver. He had a severe protective brother complex, as far as Konohamaru could see, which was really weird in Konohamaru's opinion because Hanabi was practically twice his age and, as a bonus, not even related to him. Konohamaru shook his head, allowing her to continue on with her sister and the young boy.

"Do you want something, Konohamaru?" asked Teuchi as the Sarutobi watched his crush continue on.

Konohamaru sighed, turning around in his stool at the counter. "Yeah. I guess I'll take a bowl of Shōyu ramen…"

* * *

"Relax."

Obito scowled, but said nothing, instead focusing on keeping his center of balance, sitting Indian-style on the tip of a rock; his hands clapped together, eyes closed in concentration. The water flowed down the chakra-formed shield he'd created around himself, each droplet requiring a constant renewing of the shield's strength. Telling him to concentrate on his task was not a way to help him concentrate on the task, but he also knew that yelling at Jiraiya for yelling at him to keep concentration wouldn't help him to keep focus, either. It was better to ignore him and keep his relaxation, to keep his concentration.

The hue of the chakra was not his normal blue, but a royal sapphire that made the water change glow almost ethereally. This chakra, while beautiful, was infinitely more dangerous than his norm, mostly because it wasn't his chakra he was manipulating—it was his other personality's chakra. The discovery that he did, in fact, have two different types of chakra in his body was a discovery made on MountMyōboku, two years ago, by none other than the Great Toad Sage.

The chakra had been divided by his mother upon the creation of the separate personality, Obito getting what was actually the lower side—which was actually the chakra levels of Naruto without the Kyūbi's chakra taken into consideration. Meiwaku was stronger than he was; which meant that before the split, Obito had been possibly the strongest person in existence. In basic terms, he and the other person within him were exactly like two different people, who had to share the same body—exactly like the jinchūriki with their bijū. It seemed that Tsunade had been more than correct with her assumption that the secondary personality was like a bijū. For all intents and purposes, Obito was a jinchūriki; just not of a tailed beast demon like Naruto.

The sapphire chakra that of the other personality was stronger, but harder to maintain and to manipulate without him fully merging. While he had grown to tolerate him being within him, part of the requirement for him to be able to fully control the sapphire chakra would be to willingly allow the being to take him over completely, something he was scared to do. Whenever he was allowed out, people died, innocent people died. Albeit, they might not be the best person in the world, but in the grand scheme of things, they were innocent people. He didn't want innocent people to die. He wanted to protect them, to save them; and he was just afraid that the other personality wouldn't understand the sentiment.

Not allowing the merger stopped him from being able to do many things. Though he did have a summoning contract with the toads (which the toads did respect) because of the nature of his chakra without merger, trying to achieve sage mode—the utmost in calm and serenity—was a distinct impossibility for him. His body was constantly in a mode of fight and chaos, even worse than the chaos that existed within Naruto. It also stopped him from being able to use the Susanoo, the Tsukuyomi, and the Amaterasu; the three most powerful Mangekyō forms in existence. The chakra he had without merging with other personality, while it was a large amount of chakra, wasn't enough—it was about the same size as Sasuke's, and the only reason Sasuke had access to the techniques was because Itachi had secretly poured more chakra into Sasuke's body at the end of their fight, and Sasuke had taken someone's eyes in order to avoid the blindness that came with it.

He felt a barrier being pushed in his head, and he fought to remain his concentration, ignoring the voice that slivered into his mind. _Obito… Obito… _

**_Shut up_**, he thought, furrowing his brow and increasing the amount of chakra output minutely, not enough to throw him off balance, but enough to draw Naruto and Jiraiya's attention at the sudden spike. **_I don't need this right now, from you. I don't want to hear you. _**

_This would be much easier for you if you just merged with me, _the other personality said, whom he had dubbed 'Meiwaku' in order to stop confusion. Without even meaning to, Meiwaku pulled him into his mind's eye, bringing them face-to-face for the umpteenth time in three months. Obito glared at his exact carbon copy, who merely grinned toothily at him. Meiwaku knew of his dislike for speaking to him—a dislike that had developed nearly two years ago, the first time he had gone into his mind's eye.

It had been by accident that he had gone into himself. The sage mode required him to come into harmony with his entire being, and that concentration had accidentally brought him to Meiwaku. It had been the first time he, himself, had ever had contact with him—when Meiwaku took him over, he was always unconscious, the reason why he never knew what he had done. He hadn't known what to expect from him, but he hadn't expected to see himself. He should've, but he didn't. It was the weirdest thing, to know there was a being in the world that looked exactly like you, just… just deeply insane.

Meiwaku had been surprised as well—when Obito wasn't conscious, he was allowed to play, but Obito had been in a realm of consciousness and unconsciousness, meaning he was stuck by no more than Obito's own will. Obito then was then he took control and gave him his options—Meiwaku would allow Obito dominion over the emerald chakra, and Obito would take down a majority of his mental blockers, except for his primaries. It would allow Meiwaku to speak with him, but only if absolutely need be, but it wouldn't allow him to take over the body. Having no choice, he agreed, but regularly abused the privilege given to him by Obito, knowing that the terms of the deal were set, and if Obito went back on his word… Meiwaku would be well within his rights to do the exactly the same.

Meiwaku stepped close to him, snapping him out of his thoughts by putting his 'fingertips' on Obito's 'cheek'. As always, Obito had no sensation of being touched by anything skin-like, but by something distinctly frigid. Meiwaku was by no means dead, but without a body, he was just an apparition to Obito, given a seemingly physical form only so they could converse. "You would have more control if you allowed me to help you," Meiwaku said with a half-smirk, knowingly toying with a boy whose temper was shorter than anything.

"No, I wouldn't. _You_ would," Obito returned.

Meiwaku smiled, reminding him like a cat. "But, _Obi-kun_," he purred, licking his lips needlessly, "I could always share my control with you. After all, I'm only alive by your graces. Sharin' with you would never be an issue to me." He cupped Obito by the chin, his cold lips nearing Obito's ear. "We could be kings, O-bi-to… kings. We could rule the entire fuckin' world; make it into whatever you want. We have the chakra to do that. I bet that if we wanted to, we could live as _gods_…"

"Too bad we don't want to," growled Obito sarcastically, pushing away. "I'm not doing it. I have no interest in becoming any sort of god, and I also know that I can't trust you. You're staying here, Meiwaku; and I'm _never_ letting you out."

"Aw, I kill a few hundred people and I'm a bad boy?" Meiwaku said, feigning an innocent voice, which dripped with honey-like sarcasm. "What if I promised not to kill any good people?"

"Who will you kill, then? Because apparently anyone I don't like specifically is someone you consider to be a bad person."

"I can't help it if people who piss you off piss me off too. They're bad people if you don't like them."

"No, it just means I have no liking for them." He sighed. "I can't trust you not to kill. If you had your way, half the population of Konohagakure would be dead right now. Half of the damned world would be dead. You're a cruel, vindictive, psychotic murderer, Meiwaku; and you can never be trusted. I can _never_ trust you."

"Of course you can. I'm your protector," Meiwaku said, his smile slipping somewhat. "I'll listen to you. I promise."

"No. You'll do what you want, and what you want is to kill. You haven't proven anything different to me." Obito brought his hands together in the ram seal, deciding that the conversation was over. "Release." He snapped back into total consciousness, once again returning to the tip of the rock, once again returning to keeping his chakra focused.

Somehow, except for the spike, he'd managed a continuous flow of Meiwaku's chakra, despite the fact that he was talking to a person who pissed him off more than anything else. Not bothering to check his watch, he released the chakra, allowing the water to hit his head full-on, the cooling liquid dripping down his face. He knew he couldn't have held it for much longer—his head was killing him. He leaped away from the rock, landing nimbly on the rocky border surrounding the small pool of water; which he considered to be a slight feat considering his legs were pretty numb from sitting cross-legged for such a long time.

Naruto and Jiraiya looked over at him from the small spot they were currently set up their camp. "You held it for an hour today."

He grinned tiredly before flopping onto his stomach in front of them, his chin touching his black and orange jacket that he'd laid out before he begun training, a hand-me-down from Naruto. "Good."

"Yeah, I guess, but you're also gushing blood," said Jiraiya with a sigh, handing the teenage a napkin. Obito sat up, ignoring the aching in his muscles as he did so, raising the tissue to catch the blood dripping out of his nose. "You communicated with him." It wasn't a question, but Obito felt obliged to nod in response. The Perverted Toad Sage sighed and said, "Every time you say no to him, it only gets worse. You're going to end up dying, Obito."

"Sempai, I'll be alright," he murmured, wiping up the scarlet blood that poured out of his nose like an open tap.

Naruto's brow furrowed. "Look, Obito, I'll admit I don't understand much of what the old toad told you about Meiwaku, but I know that he said that you can deny it for now, but you'll have to do it eventually. You can't continue to live with half the chakra your body naturally has at your disposal. Your chakra points aren't being fully utilized or somethin' like that. At some point, you've gotta merge. Right?"

"The moron's right," agreed Jiraiya, earning a glare from said moron, which he promptly ignored. "It was fine when you were younger, but as you're reaching your full physical development, you need to be at top shape. Your chakra points need to be used to their full potential, or your body will start falling apart. You'll die. Early. Painfully. Slowly."

"I don't have to, and I'm not going to," he responded in a stubborn tone of voice. "If I die, I die. All that means is Meiwaku will go out with me."

"You have things to live for," whispered Naruto.

He sighed. "I know, and I'll give them up in a moment if that means that the things other people live for is protected."

* * *

_**Is it just me, or does FanFiction's document writer act halfway retarded for everyone? When did the text get so large in it? And why is it importing my documents in such a stupid format? Anyone have an answer for me? I'm honestly confused. **_

_**That being said, I'm a little... disappointed. I'm worried about this story. Yes, it has to do with reviews, but it's more than that, I think. I just don't feel like very many people like this story. Admittedly, it's very rough around the edges, but... considering that a lot of people kept asking me to write a sequel, it's a little disconcerting that a rather low amount of people are actually reading it. Right now, this is my least popular story. This story has less viewers than anything else, even the one-shots I wrote. That actually makes me sad. I know it's petty to keep bitching about this story not being popular, but I'm not the most secure person in the world. I really love writing, but I'm constantly afraid that I'm doing a bad job. That's why I beg for reviews, for favorites, for readers. I just want to know that I'm doing something correctly. Like I actually do something worthwhile, like amusing people with a tale. **_

_**I don't know. **_

_**But thank you, **__**sailorangelmoon1**__**, for your review! I didn't know if that sex talk would be awkward or anything, but I'm glad to know that someone liked it! (my friend suggested I do it, for one chapter, and that was me accepting that challenge, no matter how awkward it may be to imagine something like that, much less put it down in writing. It really was just put there for silliness) xP **_


	6. Chapter 5: Trust

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

_TRUST_

_/tr__ə__st/_

_firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something; belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of_

* * *

"OWWW!"

"Hanabi, if you simply just stopped squirming, trust me, this would be a whole lot less painful for you," said Neji with a sigh as he sent a surge of chakra to his younger cousin's shoulder, making her wince again in more pain. Sighing again, he returned to his movements, kneading each knotted muscle on Hanabi's back, using his Byakugan to be able to exactly find points more stressed than others. Hanabi squirmed, and he popped her on the small of her back, annoyed by her squirming. It was throwing him off, and it wasn't necessary for her to squirm when he was helping him.

"Neji-niisan, you're such a jackass!" she grumbled, turning her head slightly to glare at her older cousin.

"Yeah. I'm the jackass you're coming to for a massage," he countered, shrugging off the insult she'd thrown at him. "It's not my fault you decided to attempt to work yourself into an early grave by not properly taking care of your body." He soothed a particularly knotted muscle close to her spine, sending chakra into the tissue at five-second intervals to help unlock it. "Seriously, Hanabi, you're supposed to let your muscles rest, otherwise they'll begin to fail on you, and then you'll collapse on the battlefield. Do you want that? You want to die because you were too stupid to do something like warm up your damned muscles or simply take care of it."

"No…" she mumbled as Neji worked absolute magic on her back. In the back of her mind, she was aware that she should have been embarrassed that she'd had to take off her shirt, as well as her bra, in front of her older cousin in order for him to give her a massage, but it was definitely worth it. His hands were like magic. Hinata was just as good as him at massages, but she was busy today—Kankurō was supposed to come back to Konoha. "Will Tenten look at us funny if she came in and saw this?" she asked as her eyes slid shut.

"Hmm? No. Not really. She's used to you doing weird things with other people. She expects it now, actually," Neji responded, patiently working the tense, stressed back of Hanabi. As he continued his soothing motions on her terse back, she felt more and more safe in his more-than-capable hands. It wasn't simply just his massage that was soothing, but his presence as well. "Besides, you're my little cousin, Nabi-chama. It's not like she doesn't know you at all by now, and it's not like you'll attack me and try to lock lips with me or something weird like that."

Her brow wrinkled, and she stuck out her tongue in disgust. Just the idea of even thinking of Neji like that was disgusting.

"Eww... kissing Neji-Niisan. Eww..."

"Yeah, I know. I'm grossed out by the idea, too."

As the two of them slipped into comfortable silence, Hanabi slipped into her own thoughts, thinking back to a time that seemed so long ago, when Obito was still named Shikaru, and before he truly became close with herself and Shizuka. She began to daydream, rescinding into her memories.

_They were on their first mission—not truly their first mission, really, but as it was better than cleaning up dog shit at the park, they considered it to be their first _real _mission—escorting a dignitary to the Earth country. Midway there, their troop had been attacked by a group of shinobi intent on collecting the hit that was on the dignitary's head. They'd been scattered, Hanabi tasked with protecting the dignitary. _

_It hadn't been her that had set off the trap that had led to her taking a shuriken to the thigh; it was the politician, but like a shinobi who was intent on making sure their mission went smoothly, she managed to make it to the man before the shuriken had been lodged in his stomach, pushing him out of the way and getting the ninja star imbedded in her leg. _

_She landed on the cold, hard, unforgiving ground elbows-first, rolling to a stop a few meters away from the man. She bit down on the hood of the dark blue jacket she was wearing as she pulled the weapon out of her leg, analyzing the wound with her Byakugan. It was pretty deep, but in the grand scheme of things, she would live. Walking would be hard, but not impossible. _

_Standing was alright. _

_She pushed herself to her feet, wincing in pain as she carefully placed a small amount of weight on her wounded leg, giving the remaining difference to her uninjured leg. With her Byakugan, she could plainly see two enemy shinobi that were coming for the politician. Gritting her teeth, she pulled out a kunai, holding it in a tight grip. _

_"__Mr. Kobo," she hissed through her teeth, not turning to face the old man, "I'm going to have to ask you to run, as fast as you can. Don't stop until you make it to the next town, and once there, find a place to hide and stay there until we come for you. I'm going to stay here and hold them off." _

_"__You're… you're a child! They're adults! You'll die." _

_"__I'm a shinobi first, and a child second," she responded, "Now get going. I can't keep you safe if you stay here." He hesitated, and she felt her patience run down. "Mr. Kobo; go _**now**_!" she snapped. He snapped out of his daze, picking himself up and running in the opposite direction. She wanted to sigh in relief, but she couldn't. She didn't really know if he'd really gotten away, and it was her job to help him do so as well as she could. So she pulled out an exploding tag, wrapping it around the handle of the kunai, and threw it with as much power as she had at the incoming shinobi. As soon as it was more than ten meters away from her, she moved as quickly as possible away from that spot, setting up another kunai in much the same style and throwing it again. Two explosions went off simultaneously, followed by screams from shinobi. _

_Her Byakugan could plainly see the remaining shinobi, keeping the same pace. Her Byakugan could also plainly see that the other chakra seemed to just disappear. What her Byakugan couldn't see was that there was, in fact, a chakra behind her, and she didn't know there was anyone behind her until he swept her feet out from underneath her, making her land painfully on her shoulder. Before she could try to get up, he put his foot on her arm, keeping her pinned down. _

_He glared down at her, wiping his forehead for the blood that dripped down it. "You little bitch," he growled at her, spitting his blood in her face. "That hurt!" She gave a low whine under her breath, squirming underneath his sandal in an attempt to get out from under his heavy foot. He wouldn't have that, however, and so he kicked her hard in the head, making her see stars. _

_Dimly, she heard someone land on the grass close to her head. "This is the one we were chasing?" _

_"__Seems so. She apparently got caught in our little trap," said the man keeping her pinned down, removing his foot from her shoulder. He crouched down next to Hanabi's leg, pushing his finger into the wound. The pain was sharp, like the shuriken that had cut her open. She screamed out, arching her back. She contemplated, for a moment, begging for mercy, but her Hyūga pride had her swallowing her pleas. So, instead, she withheld her sobs as this man seemed to tear open her wound slightly more, blood gushing out over his fingers._ There are worse things he could do_, she thought frantically, trying to soothe herself. _

_"__I think we've captured her attention, Goro," said one of the shinobi with what sounded like a bored sigh. Immediately, Hanabi figured that at least one of them (if not both, but definitely the bored one) was from their village's Torture and Interrogation squadron. Just her luck. _

_"__Just making sure," said the aforementioned Goro, who grabbed her the back of her neck and forced her to sit upright as the other one bound her wrists together behind her back. "Now, you," said Goro, gripping her shoulders way too tightly for Hanabi's liking. "The dignitary. Mr. Kobo. Which way did he go? Where did he go?" Hanabi glared at him, choosing to resist with silence. There was no way in hell she would abandon her mission in order to save her own skin. She'd sooner stab herself in the eyes and blind herself. Goro's blurry face grew visibly angry, and he slapped her fully and painfully on the cheek. "I'll ask again. Where's Mr. Kobo? Which way did you send him? Where is he headed towards?" _

_"__I don't know," she grounded out. Not true. If she was correct, he was headed towards Ishimaya, a small village just outside the Earth country's borders; but she wasn't going to say that. _

_"__You're lying. You wouldn't send him away unless you knew where he was going. So where is he?" repeated Goro, grabbing her by the cheeks, pressing his fingernails into her skin and causing her to bleed. Her brow furrowed with the pain he was causing her, but she refused to bend. She refused to give in. _

_"__She's not talking. So we'll have to visit other tactics," said the other man to Goro, still sounding bored. _

_"__What should we do? Slice her up? Break her bones?" She wanted to shiver, but she held it back, like a true actress. _

_"__No, you idiot. Look at her." The man reached around her and grabbed her chin, angling her face towards Goro's. His thumb pressed against her bottom eyelid, pulling down on the skin. "She's a Hyūga, dummy." He went up further and pulled off her pride, her joy—her Leaf headband. "And she's unmarked. She's Main branch. I think that the current clan head is supposed to have a daughter around her age."_ Shit, shit, shit! _She did not like the route this was taking. How did he know all this just by a first glance? _

_Even though her vision was blurry, she could plainly see the evil grin that crept onto Goro's face. Within a moment, she found herself pressed into the ground, the man's face on her neck, biting and slobbering all over her. She squirmed, trying to fight against him, but her hands were bound behind her back and she couldn't use the Gentle Fist, nor could she really reach her weapons' pouch. She kicked out her feet, but in a flash, those were bound as well. Goro grabbed her chest, placing a tight and painful grip on her newly developing breasts. _

_She knew what was going on, and she also knew she didn't have many options. She was left with one, and it was not to beg. Begging, according to Iruka-sensei, only would make the situation worse for her. It would put her in more danger. It increased the threat. So she was left with one simple, straight-forward option:_

_She screamed. _

_Screeched, actually, as loud as she could for as long as she could. When Goro slammed his hand down on her mouth, she bit his palm as hard as she could, drawing blood. There was no way she was going to let this happen without fighting back. She would rather die. He yelled out, letting go, and she was free to continue her screaming. The other man took control, slamming his fist down into her jaw, shattering it. It made keeping her mouth open the worst feeling in the world, but for the sakes of stopping this from happening, she did. She continued to scream, continued to squirm. _

_"__Fuck it, let her scream," said Goro as his hand found the tie of her pants, ripping off the tight knot and forcing his hand down her pants, cupping her in a way that made her scream grow louder. "I like screamers." _

No, no, no; this cannot be happening!_ Hanabi thought, thrashing her hips wildly in order to attempt to throw this man off of her. "__GET__ OFF OF ME, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! GET __THE FUCK OFF OF ME!__" __she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks as the other man grabbed her hips, forcing her to stay down to the ground as Goro began to rip open her mesh shirt, opening her up and shredding her modesty. "__STOP IT! __GET __OFF OF ME!__" _

_She was scared; terrified. She felt powerless to this man, and she was afraid of her innocence being stolen in such a way. She'd been taught about this at the Academy, about rape, and she remembered waking up with a nightmare that same night (despite the fact that she was mature for her age, there was a limit on the information she could accept at one time. She was only ten, after all. She was still a child). This was the worst form of torture she could imagine, and she didn't want her nightmares to come true. No, they couldn't come true… she couldn't just sit there and let it come true! She had to fight! She had to keep screaming and screaming and screaming and screaming..._ "LET ME GO! STOP IT! STOP TOUCHING ME, YOU **FUCKING BASTARDS**!_"_

_Goro laughed, and moved to touch her again. However, instead of finding his hand groping her or something worse (and she knew there was worse than just groping), she found all of his weight seemed to have disappeared. She turned herself over, giving her arms move mobility. Now that going into her pouch was a possibility, she did so, pulling out a kunai and quickly cutting the cabling around her wrists, freeing herself. Sighing in relief, she looked up… and her heart promptly stopped beating. _

_Shikaru, whom she now knows as Obito, was beating the shit out of Goro, her attacker. No. That was an understatement if there ever was one. Shikaru was beating him past bloody knuckles, past a broken nose or broken ribs. The only thing it could be described as was just _bloody_. No hesitation was made on Shikaru's part as he kept swinging, even though he'd long since knocked this man unconscious. The other man ran, thankfully in the opposite direction of which Mr. Kobo ran from what Hanabi could hear. She wished she had the same will, but every part of her hurt way too much for her to think about it, especially her thigh. _

_"__Shikaru, stop," she whispered, her tears still spilling. He looked up at her with emotionless eyes, and it was practically as if she were looking at another person. In retrospect, she realized she was actually really close to seeing the different personality, but at the time she knew nothing of Shikaru's problems. _

_"__You caused this," he growled at the man who was hanging onto the fringes of life, who tried to argue but couldn't speak, as Shikaru had seemed to have crushed his windpipe with his hits. "You made her cry." He pulled his fist back, the veins in his temple visible enough to make Hanabi think, for a moment, that he had the Byakugan. "No one should ever make her cry." With that, he brought his fist forwards into Goro's face, and Hanabi knew that if he connected his fist with Goro's head, he would kill him. _

_"__Stop it!" she screamed, closing her eyes tight as the tears continued to drip. "Don't kill him!" She was waiting for the sound of Goro's neck snapping, but much to her surprise, no such sound was heard. She cracked open one eye to see Shikaru staring at her with those empty eyes, his hand still fisted in Goro's shinobi flak vest, his other bleeding hand just inches away from Goro's face. _

_"__What?" he asked, his brow bunching slightly. _

_She took a slow breath of relief. "Don't kill him," she repeated, hugging herself. "Please, don't kill him, Shikaru." _

_"__There are probably other girls he's done this to, Hyūga," he said. _

_"__There are," she agreed, "But please, don't. Don't kill him, Shikaru. You're not that person." _

_"__You don't know what kind of person I am," he said darkly. At the time, she was confused by that statement, but she let it go, focusing on keeping Shikaru from killing this man. She forced herself to her feet, still hugging her body in order to attempt to keep the ripped tatters of her clothing on her body. However, upon taking one step on her injured leg, she promptly fell, crying out in pain. She expected to make contact with the dirt, but to her surprise she found herself making contact with strong arms. She looked up to see Shikaru staring down at her, biting his bottom lip as he carefully laid her down, leaning her back against his leg. _

_She grabbed the material of her shirt, pulling it back over her exposed skin, cheeks turning bright red with mortification. This had to be the worst possible moment of her life. It could only be worse if her chest wrappings had been completely ripped apart, like her shirt, and nearly her hoodie, had been. She moved her leg slightly before she winced in pain, resisting the urge to cry once more. He looked down at her leg, his eyes showing concern for her injury, a lot more emotion than he'd ever shown her up until that moment. _

_"__How deep is it?" he asked her, his fingertips brushing against the wound. She bit her bottom lip and pushed her forehead against his shoulder, for the first time touching Shikaru. _

_"__Deeper than it was before. I don't think I'm getting proper blood flow throughout my leg," she said, moving her forehead closer to his face. His fingers ghosted over the wound. "I need Shizuka. Where's Zuka-kun?" _

_"__I don't know. I was going to go find the rest of our troop when I heard you screaming like a banshee." She blushed. "Not that it was a bad thing, necessarily, with the given circumstance in which I found you; but the point is that I don't know where he is and that I also don't if he heard you. I think the best thing is to get back to the point we left them at, and as much fun as I had carrying you a second ago, I don't think I can carry you approximately two kilometers to find Uzumaki-sensei and Shizuka-san." Hanabi watched Shikaru's hand become lit with a green light, its energy cool against the heat that was her bloodied wound. _

_"__You know medical ninjutsu?" she asked, slightly out-of-breath. _

_"__Yeah. I know the basics. Never sure what type of situation I might get into someday," he responded, his voice filled with an emotion that Hanabi just couldn't quantify. All she could think about how good this felt to her, Shikaru's healing her. "Listen, Hyūga, since you're here and I really can't think of a better time… I just wanna apologize to you." _

_"__For…?" asked Hanabi, looking up slightly from his shoulder. What had he done wrong, beside try to kill someone? She didn't know. As per usual, his face was unreadable to her. _

_"__Being… a prick. Like Uzumaki-sensei said I was. And I apologize for treating you and Shizuka like shit all this time. I don't… fuck. I don't know how to apologize more than I already am—"_

_"__Shikaru," she interrupted, taking a chance by touching his wrist, her thumb almost enveloped in the bright green healing life. He paused his movements, obviously waiting for her to continue speaking. "Shikaru, its fine. Really. You have your issues, and I understand that. I know you want to work them out, and I have no problem with you doing that. Just… please, let us help you do that. All we want is for you to feel safe around us." _

_"__That's not easy," he murmured. _

_She raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" _

_He shrugged and slowly began to explain, "Well, safety is the epitome of trust. To feel safe, one must just give themselves over to another completely and learn to allow them to be absolved into their world, to allow them to become something of extreme importance to someone. I'm not sure how I could possibly go about letting myself do that with you, Hyūga, or to Shizuka, or even to Uzumaki-sensei…" _

_"__You could start by calling me and Naruto-sensei by our first names, Shikaru," she whispered as the green light dimmed out, "And by telling us things about yourself. Like… like telling me your favorite color." _

_"__My favorite… color?"_ Geez, by the way he's reacting, you'd think I asked him to calculate the mass of the sun, _she'd thought. _

"_Yes. First step to trust is telling someone your favorite color." Not really, but it'd do. _

_"__Umm… I…"_

_"__Mine is dark blue. If that helps at all." _

_"__Uh… I like… I like purple. Erm… really pale purple. Kinda like… the color of your eyes, actually. That's my favorite color." _

_Her mouth gaped slightly, looking up at Shikaru. "Lilac?"_

_He blushed—a first—and looked away, embarrassed. "Yeah. That really pale purple, kind of like the moon on a particularly dark night. Don't judge me." _

_"__No, not judging. It's quite nice, actually. I wasn't expecting that." She smiled. She carefully pushed away from him, standing up on a leg with only a dull ache pulsing through it, rather than an unbearable throbbing. She grinned. "Thank you, Shikaru." _

_"__Ah, it's not a problem, Hyū… erm, Hanabi." She blinked and looked at him, surprised he'd quickly moved to that point. He rubbed the back of his neck, moving his ponytail out of the way. He had a light blush on his cheeks; the most emotional Hanabi had ever seen him in the time she'd known him. "I mean to say, you're welcome, Hanabi. You're very welcome." _

_She smiled at him. She didn't quite know him, but she felt so strangely… safe with him. Maybe it was because he saved her, or because he was attempting to begin to trust her, but she already did feel so safe with him. In fact, so safe, it made her very heart fill with emotion that, at such a young age, she just couldn't understand, but what she knew was, that feeling safe with Shikaru felt so much more powerful than being safe with her family, or even her best friend. Something about it was so… amazing. _

She didn't understand it until she was much older that it wasn't simple trust, nor a simple friendship. No, it was love. It was a safety that could only be caused by love in its purest form.

* * *

"_Kurō-koi_! _Kurō-koi __Kurō-koi __Kurō-koi __Kurō-koi!_"

If there was anything Sabaku nō Kankurō adored, it was that moment when his hard-as-rocks ANBU-ranked, strong-as-hell Hyūga fiancé ran to him at the front gates of Konoha, all smiles and overlong hair flowing behind her back and jumped into his arms, wrapping her strong, leanly-muscled arms around his neck. He smiled into her neck and kissed her gently. "So, I take it that you missed me, hmm, hime?" he murmured as he twirled her around.

"Yes, of course," she replied happily, smiling widely as she pecked at his lips, her pale eyes twinkling. He chuckled and tightened his grip around her waist. Nothing changed when it came to how amusing he found Hinata to be sometimes. There were some moments when she was the twenty-year-old killing machine, and there were moments when she was the Hyūga head-to-be; but then there were these moments, where she was _his _Hina-hime, his beautiful fiancé.

"Oh, God, just stop it with the cuteness," complained a voice from behind them, making her blush bright red and bury her face in Kankurō's neck. Kankurō, however, grinned and turned around to face Inuzuka Kiba, his usual traveling companion. Kiba had become a sort of ambassador of Konoha after the war, traveling to and from Sunagakure when it was needed. He was helping the smaller hidden village grow, helping it develop and flourish as the shinobi village that it was. He was well known at the Academy there (which was still in its infancy, basically) and regarded as a great friend to the shinobi who lived there.

Kiba rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and looked away. "Burying your face in his neck doesn't stop the cuteness, Hinata-chan! It just increases it!"

"No, it doesn't, but I like the cuteness," responded Kankurō, rolling his eyes at his best friend, "Especially since I _missed_ her. You know... because I'm in love with her."

He pretended to make a disgusted look because of the romanticism that Kankurō loved to spout in order to simply annoy him. "You say crap like that, and you make me wanna vomit," he grunted.

Kankurō shrugged in response, somewhat uncaring of Kiba's disposition towards their interactions within relationship. He was more than used to Kiba's view on their public displays of affection, and he didn't hesitate to vocalize the reason why: "You only say that because you've no one to say it to you."

Kiba sighed. The puppeteer knew him too well. "True. Anyways, I'm taking my shit home. We'll meet you guys for lunch, right? Half an hour, Shushuya?"

Kankurō nodded, finding himself more and more absorbed with the warmth Hinata was giving off rather than what his friend was saying. Kiba sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he looked at the couple. He loved his friends, dearly, and he was sincerely happy they were together because they were absolutely miserable without each other; but he couldn't help but take out his frustrations with his own severely lacking love life on them. He knew that only a few years prior, he thought he was happy without a relationship—well, now he wasn't. He wanted to be with someone, to share his happiness with, and it was not as easy as he'd hoped. The dating pool was filled with piranhas and sharks. Everyone he tried to date (or, more accurately, simply have a relationship of pure monogamy, not truly dating), male or female, turned out to be a total waste of his time and his youth.

He was jealous that neither Kankurō nor Hinata had to go through what he did—they'd found each other when they were young, and though they had a bountiful of their own problems, they'd managed to stick it through and managed to come out on top through it all.

Akamaru whined low in the back of his throat, nudging Kiba's hand with his giant nose. The dog-nin sighed, running his palm over Akamaru's giant head and rubbing him behind his ear in the way he knew he liked. Most of the problem lied in the fact that all his tried attempts at dating failed because the person he was with failed to like Akamaru. For him, that was an important thing—the Inuzuka were tied to their ninken by every tie possible. They were practically an extension of their being, and their happiness often came before that of the human companion. Therefore, if someone Kiba was with didn't like Akamaru, or Akamaru didn't like them, he just couldn't have a relationship with them. It wouldn't be possible.

And, so far, he hadn't found one person he was romantically interested in that liked Akamaru. He'd come close with his latest relationship, with a Chūnin by the name of Aiko. Aiko had seemed to like Akamaru, and it also seemed like Akamaru was getting there with Aiko, until one day when Kiba wasn't around due to a sudden tracking mission and had begged of Aiko to take care of him, due to the fact that bringing along Akamaru would push the shinobi limitation of the mission. Kiba had come back to see that he'd bought a muzzle for Akamaru, and kept him chained up outside; despite the fact that it was raining, firstly; and secondly, Akamaru was so house trained that he could probably use the toilet.

Kiba sighed and forced a smile, looking at the large dog beside him. "So, who do we want to try to pick up today, Akamaru? Boy or girl?"

Bark! "_Why are you making this more complicated than it has to be?_" Akamaru asked him, his large head turning towards the building rather than his master and best friend.

Kiba's eyes seemed to almost bug out of his head at the question. "The hell do you mean? How isn't this complicated by itself? I'm looking for the love of my life, here, Akamaru!"

Akamaru breathed out through his nose—his version of a tired sigh—before he barked, "_That's not what I meant. What I meant was, why don't you try with people you already know rather than just LITERALLY sticking it in there blind? We're not that young anymore… we can't afford sloppiness… you need a litter._"

Kiba stared at him. "I'm twenty. You're eleven. I have time to get around to making a litter of pups. Not that I really plan on it, actually."

"_In normal dog years, you'd be dead, and I'd be getting really close to it. And you better damned well be planning on having a few puppies. I want to play with little Kibas in our old age._"

"But you're _not _a normal dog. You know that. And… maybe. I dunno. Kids are annoying."

Akamaru turned his head and glared up at Kiba. Okay, the route of mentioning puppies was not working on the dense Kiba. He needed a new tactic. "_You're completely missing the point of this, Kiba. My point is that you're wasting your own time with blind dating._"

Kiba looked at him oddly. "Uh-huh. This coming from the same dog that makes me go out to the furthest store in the Land of Fire to buy special-brand dog shampoo before we go out on a mission."

"_Shampoo is important._" Yes, Akamaru's priorities were sure in order.

"Yeah, sure. And so is finding the love of my life, so don't spite my methodology please, Akamaru…" Kiba said as he bumped into someone, stumbling back a few steps. "Shit man, I'm sorry…" he began as he looked up, upon which his apologies promptly died in his throat. Uchiha Sasuke frowned, brushing off the long sleeves of his black casual shirt; his onyx eyes focused down at the material rather than up at Kiba. He didn't appear to be quite happy with the fact the dog-nin bumped into him, which Kiba took into consideration at the same moment that he thought that the shirt Sasuke was wearing was a pretty nice fit, showing how filled the Uchiha heir was. How… perfectly muscular he was. And it looked good on him—went well with the paleness of his skin. And the swirl on his shoulder, the mark of all shinobi of the Leaf village… it just fit him. Kiba couldn't explain it. He was just resisting the urge to start, well… drooling like a dog.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was doing his best not to blush and babble like a moron at the Inuzuka who'd bumped into him, and the only thing he could think of to stop it was focus on the nonexistent dirt on his sleeve, that way he didn't have to look up into Kiba's face and melt. He was aware that his feelings hadn't changed at all over the years, and it irritated the shit out of him that he was practically like a teenaged girl whenever the Inuzuka was in the vicinity. Near anyone else, and he was confident Uchiha Sasuke. Near him, he was a fucking teenaged girl. A nervous, scared, petrified, lovesick teenaged girl. He was a more horrible version of Sakura and Ino, back when they'd had horrible crushes on him. It irritated him more that he couldn't do a damned thing about his crush on Kiba than just pretend that he didn't have a crush on the Inuzuka, which was the hardest thing to do, and it only got harder and harder over the years, as Kiba's fabled sexual escapades kept managing to reach his ears and consistently fucking up his days as he imagined the newest whore the man he was head-over-heels for was fucking last night. It made him want to retch and go back to the days when his love life was the least concerning part of his life.

The ninken looked between the Uchiha and the Inuzuka, internally sighing. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the two shinobi had major crushes on one another, nor did it take a genius to notice the thick sexual tension that had spontaneously erupted the moment the two came into contact. Truthfully, it irritated _him _that the two of them, both players in their own rights, couldn't identify the obvious signs of romance that existed between the two of them. He really wished he could hurry up with his maturity processes so that he could speak beyond the words 'happy new year', in order to tell them both that they were _such fucking_ _morons_.

So he did the next best thing—he barked, as loudly as he could, and drew the both of them out of their thoughts. Kiba flinched, and Sasuke merely blinked, looking up from his clean sleeve and at Kiba, exactly what he didn't want. Kiba, disliking the feeling of helplessness he felt whenever entered Sasuke's space, began to glare at the Uchiha, forcing Sasuke to do the same.

"Why did you bump into me?" Sasuke asked bluntly, knowing he was being rude, but had nothing else to do, unless he wanted to blush and stutter.

Kiba frowned at him. "I was lost in thought. I already apologized, Uchiha," he spat back angrily, although all he wanted to do was ask the Uchiha out on a date. "Maybe if _you_ weren't so busy with the process of turning that lump of coal up your ass into a diamond, you wouldn't have bumped into me."

Akamaru whined under his breath. Somehow, he'd made everything just a little _worse_. He had the most honest intentions, but these two… especially Kiba… were two of the most romantically retarded beings Akamaru had ever seen, and as a dog; Akamaru didn't truthfully believe in romance. Romance was a thing for humans. That was simply how idiotic the two were to him, that he thought that they were romantically inept.

"Wow, amazing comment, Inuzuka," said Sasuke, feigning indifference. However, on the inside, he was hurt by the hateful tone Kiba was speaking to him in. "Get your thumb out of your twat and walk in a straight line. You'd find that you'd be walking a hell of a lot easier if you do. You'd be plowing a hell of a lot less people down."

"Go to hell," said Kiba, rolling his eyes. While he seemed untouched by it, in reality it kind of hurt. No, not kind of. It hurt a lot. Too much to describe. He hated pretending like he hated Sasuke, and he hated having to pretend that he didn't care about what Sasuke said to him. He knew that what Sasuke said _mattered_. He didn't know why, but it just did. "Fucking traitor," he added for extra affect, bumping into Sasuke's shoulder as he continued forwards, Akamaru in tow.

He refused to turn around and look at Sasuke, like he wanted to—if he did, Sasuke might see the pain that covered his face. Sasuke did much the same thing. He was afraid if he turned back around, he might ask Kiba to forgive him and as a prideful Uchiha, he couldn't have that. He didn't want Kiba to think any less of him in his mind, despite the fact that Kiba's only thoughts about him seemed to only be that of hatred.

Neither man, however, seemed to notice one important fact: Akamaru never growled at Sasuke, nor did he shoot daggers at him, or tried to bite him. Actually, except for that interrupting bark and a low whine, the ninken remained predominantly quiet. Neither of them even noticed that the last time Akamaru had ever barked at Sasuke, though Kiba had shot his share of cruel comments towards him, was about five or so years ago—when Sasuke had been saving Kiba's life, and that moment was brief. Akamaru had known for that long about Sasuke's sincere feelings for Kiba, and they were the truest he'd ever seen. Sure, Sasuke wouldn't really give Kiba a litter of pups to play with, but there was enough options out there (surrogacy, adoption, etc.) that made it a near non-issue. The point was that he could see Sasuke as someone Kiba could possibly raise kids with. He could see him as being happy with him. All Akamaru wanted was Kiba's happiness.

So, simply put… he liked Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

Over the past four years, Naruto had learned one important thing about Obito as a travel companion—he was restless. Part of it, Naruto had known from the extended missions they had gone on as Team Naruto, but he had never noticed how restless Obito really was. He had lived so long with the belief that the other personality could take over at any time that he didn't really sleep for that long—he napped. Every time he closed his eyes, he was only napping. He napped for hours, but the fact remained that it was not deep sleep, like what he should be getting.

He didn't feel secure enough for that.

Instead, Obito napped, halfway in the realm of sleep, and halfway in consciousness, and always ready to come out of it. The only time Naruto realized that Obito had really slept was when Kabuto had operated on him, back when they deflected from Konoha, and most of it was induced by pain and drugs. Normally, Obito was just not a heavy sleeper, and when he did sleep heavily, Naruto figured that would be the point at which something would be wrong.

When he woke up, he found the futon in his and Obito's inn room was vacant, the sheets skewed and the spot still lukewarm, telling him that Obito hadn't been awake very long. Rubbing the top of his head, he pulled off his pajamas, getting dressed in the clothes from the day before and leaving the room, in search of his student. It wasn't that he worried about Obito getting into a load of trouble or anything—he didn't get caught in his perverted ways, like Jiraiya did; he was better at it, and he knew when to quit and call for help when there was serious trouble— but he just needed to make sure he was okay. He was his first student after all.

Finding him was easy enough. The inn had a small amount of places he could go without venturing out into town, which he simply didn't do when in weird places, not without someone to accompany him. It wasn't a security thing; oddly, it was just an amount of laziness that he must've picked up from his cousin. Obito was on the roof of the inn, doing absolutely nothing it seemed besides sitting down. At least, that was how it appeared to be—but Naruto knew better. While Obito could be very lazy, when he wanted to be, he was always training his body to become better than it was, even passively.

No, Naruto knew exactly what he was doing. He'd seen it enough times. He was using the Byakugan.

It was supposed to be a temporary dōjutsu—at least, that was what he thought—but Obito still had it, for reasons that Naruto couldn't explain. He just didn't use it as often as he would the Rinnegan and the Sharingan, because since it wasn't a natural part of his body, like the Rinnegan and the Sharingan were, it drew more chakra, and caused him an amount of pain from over usage. That much, Naruto understood—it was the same problem Kakakshi had with the Sharingan he'd gotten from Uchiha Obito as a kid. Sure, he had the ability to activate and deactivate the Byakugan, but in the grand scheme of things, it was exactly like what Kakashi's Sharingan eye was to him.

"Sensei, are you just going to stand there?" Obito asked with a sigh, not bothering to turn around.

"Depends. Do you want me to sit down?" Naruto asked. "Because I was gonna go back to bed. I was just worried about where you were dattebayo."

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes more, Naruto-sensei. I just needed to come up here for a little bit," he sighed, leaning back onto his elbows.

Naruto stared at him. "You know, Obito, its okay to miss her. Hiding up here and working yourself to the bone won't make that go away."

Obito sighed, deactivating the painful Byakugan, his eyes returning to their normal dark brown. He didn't know why, but using the Byakugan while basking in moonlight made him feel closer to her—maybe because the Byakugan was her kekkei genkai, and the moon tonight was the color of her eyes. "I know sensei. I know."

Naruto sighed, walking over to him and sitting down next to him. "At least you're not staring into a bathhouse and missing Hanabi at the same time. That, surely, would've made for a few awkward moments."

Obito smiled. "I've already gone bathhouse staring for the day, sensei. Earlier, with Jiraiya-sempai. I put up a henge when it looked like we were going to get caught by a couple of indignant boyfriends. Besides, sensei, the bathhouse is closed at this hour."

Naruto hung his head. "Can't either of you go a day without peeping, dattebayo?" he half-wailed, throwing up his hands in irritation. Obito chuckled at his irritated teacher, rubbing the bridge of his reddening nose. Leave it to Naruto to take his mind off of the more saddening subjects without even really trying. He smiled sincerely at his teacher, and despite his annoyance with the perversion of his protégé, Naruto smiled back, rubbing the top of Obito's head. "Just don't peep on Hanabi in the bathhouse when we get back to the village."

Obito blushed deeply, his eyebrows furrowing. "I-I… I… s-she'd…"

"Kill you? Hell, yes. I'd kill you, too," said Naruto, only half-joking. He really would kill him, though. Slowly. Violently. Horribly. He would always see Hanabi as a little girl, even if she was now fifteen or so. He would always need to protect her.

Obito looked away, his dark brown eyes looking at everything but at Naruto, mortified and afraid at the same time. _Good, _Naruto thought, _Then he knows_ _I'm completely serious about it_. "I… I really want to peep on her now," he muttered, "Fucking hormones. Fucking puberty. Fucking need to rebel. It's gonna get me fucking killed."

Naruto laughed wholeheartedly, grinning widely. "That's not puberty's fault. That's just being a human, Obito. That's normal, I think."

* * *

**_I need to apologize. I've been such a little bitch, begging for reviews. What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I letting something as little as this dictate my moods? The point of writing this stuff is for my own confidence. It's for me to develop. Why am I whining about not getting feedback? It's not like I got feedback with my earlier attempts at writing (not talking about fanfiction). So, I'm sorry I've been complaining. It's going to stop, I swear. I promise. _**

**_Thank you, PX, for inadvertently snapping me out of that. I honestly can't thank you enough for your kind review, and it really did get me back to my senses. I've written a KankxHina lemon, but that won't come for a few chapters more. Their coupling is not my main focus for this story, not so soon. My main focus is really the relationship between Kiba and Sasuke, honestly. They're the most interesting couple for me right now, because it's a rather odd one and it's out of my comfort zone (never written a gay pairing before this). Weddings... hmm, I'll think about it. I wasn't going to write one, but I like the idea of writing one... right now, I'm focusing on weaving in the main plot, and the intrigue, but, maybe after all that happens... ;) _**

**_I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you on the next update (which, with luck that I'll build up the courage, will be within the next few days. Fingers crossed). _**


	7. Chapter 6: Chaos

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

_CHAOS_

_/__ˈ__kāäs/_

_complete disorder and confusion; behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions. _

* * *

If there was anything Obito both hated and loved about traveling with two above-the-age-restriction adult males, it was the fact that alcohol always seemed to be in supply and that with them, he could always get into a bar. The former because, like his perversion, he found that he really liked alcohol, and sometimes took it too far; and the latter because, like his perversion, he really liked alcohol.

Alcohol numbed the body and the mind, and it allowed him to exit his thoughts and just be. He enjoyed that prospect very much—he didn't have to worry about people half as much as he did when sober—and alcohol made everything brighter, everything more fun. With alcohol, anything went. But maybe it was because of that he also hated getting drunk—he didn't like not being in control of himself, no matter how good the feeling was. He knew it was because of the presence of Meiwaku in part, but he also knew he was never a type of person to allow himself to lose control that easily. So he did his best to cut himself off at some point, and he did his best not to do anything he would regret, besides drinking in the first place.

"Ooh, you're cute," said an adult female with a giant bust, which Jiraiya could not pull his eyes off of—well, Obito really couldn't either, honestly. It was quite large.

Obito bit his bottom lip and forced himself to look her in the face, attempting to remember it, but the alcohol made everything blurry and all he could tell was that she had green hair that she pulled back into a tight ponytail and a lot of makeup on her face. She moved from her standing position to straddle his lap, causing his two inebriated companions to make whistles and catcalls. She was warm, really warm, and she smelled quite sweet, too. She barely weighed much of anything, which didn't make sense with those curves but he couldn't voice that. He lacked the mental capacity at the moment. "Wanna make out, cutie?"

"Um… you're nice, but… no… not interested…" he muttered under his breath, trying to calm himself down, specifically his dick. Even though perverted, the reason why he hadn't done anything about his itches with the opposite sex was because he wanted his lips, and the rest of his body, to belong to Hanabi. He would feel like he was cheating on her, should he make out with anyone that wasn't her, or even get touched the way he wanted her to touch him—the way this woman was touching him. It felt wrong. Just wrong. "C-Can you get off… I'm not interested…"

"Oh, come off it. I saw you, looking at my breasts, you cute little pervy boy," said the woman, making Obito's blush grow more. She rubbed his thigh through his pants, but even the stimulation didn't excite Obito any; he didn't let it. Hanabi really had ruined him for other woman, at least in terms of physical contact. She rubbed her breasts, trying to be enticing to the seventeen-year-old, only to still get no reaction from his mind that would allow her to kiss him in any way. Sure, his body reacted in her favor, but he refused to think with his dick. "I know you wanna touch them."

"I… I'm okay…"

"Oh, go ahead, kid," said Jiraiya, his nose bleeding and his signature creepy, perverted grin on his face. "You won't get in any trouble."

"I don't wanna…" Obito mumbled, putting his hands on her shoulders and gently pushing her off. "I'm not interested…" The woman flashed something that must've been something like a smile, and Obito found himself sitting in a barstool within moments, between multiple women, who immediately began to coo at him and rub him up and down. It occurred to him that he was living something close to Jiraiya's dream, but he didn't care at the moment because he didn't want to be living Jiraiya's perverted little fantasies. He wanted to live his own, and not a one of them included being molested by random women in a bar. "I don't want this…"

"Sure you do," said one girl, who nipped at his ear. Another pushed their hand down underneath his shirt, making his eyes snap open, his alcohol-induced stupor practically disappearing at the contact. He'd only let a few people touch his bare skin, underneath his shirt. Anyone else felt wrong, especially these women he didn't know. They were breaching his realms of comfort, and he felt Meiwaku's slightly murderous urges rising in his throat—probably pissed that they were both being made uncomfortable, and if there was one thing Meiwaku liked more than killing, it was his comfort, and Obito's by annexation. He needed to stop this—now, before their blood was on the walls.

A girl gently bit at his neck, and he finally had enough.

"Get the fuck _off of me_," he growled in a venomous voice, one filled with anger. The three women—damn, from the amount of hands he'd felt; he thought there had been more—all flinched, stepping away from him in a second. Obito glared at them, his brown eyes displaying his ferocity at being sexually harassed by these three beautiful women as he fixed shirt again, getting up from the barstool and walking back over to the giggling, drunken messes that were Jiraiya and Naruto.

"Let's get outta here," he grounded out, taking his irritation out on his two mentors, who blinked blearily, and shrugged, both of them getting up and groaning as they stretched. The women glared at him, much to his irritation, and he snapped at the two males to hurry up.

"Jeez," mumbled Naruto, almost on the verge of incomprehension, "You're acting like Sasuke. All rude and shit. You guys really are related."

He frowned and turned his glare to his teacher, not liking Naruto's way of breezing past his obvious discomfort. "I just got _molested_, sensei."

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah, but they're hot, so it hardly counts."

Obito's eyes narrowed as Jiraiya nodded in agreement.

"…Sensei, sempai; you're such fucking morons."

As they walked back to their inn, Obito was glad to not have to speak with either drunken idiot, not because he didn't want to talk to them, but something in his stomach rumbling made him afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would puke. The alcohol's buzzing affect, due to Meiwaku's anger with the situation, had basically faded upon being molested by those women, but he felt like he was going to be physically sick. In addition, his temple was throbbing, like his brain was trying to break past his skull. His eyes couldn't concentrate on one thing for too long, so everything was supernaturally shiny and incredibly blurred. Even walking was causing him a degree of effort—all he wanted to do was collapse. And his neck… his neck was on fire. Absolutely on fire.

He was very glad when they opened the door to the inn, allowing him to almost immediately collapse onto his futon. He grabbed the pillow, holding it tightly against him as he curled up due to the fact that his stomach was killing him, too; not just his damned neck. Naruto, however, thought of this action much differently.

"Obito," he said, putting his hand hesitantly on Obito's shoulder. He turned his head slightly in order to be able to see Naruto over his shoulder. "Sorry. I know that you're uncomfortable with that kind of stuff, even though you're a giant pervert. I kinda forgot, because you're sometimes like Jiraiya with your, um… pervy-ness. So, I'm sorry."

Could he speak? Would words make him chuck? He opened his mouth, and he could almost feel the bile creeping up his throat. He snapped his jaw shut—no, no he couldn't speak. "Hn," he responded, turning back around and curling in tighter. He knew it wasn't a good response to give, especially when Naruto was trying to apologize, but damn; he just wasn't capable of any other response. He heard Naruto swallow dryly, and he took his hand off of his shoulder. He wanted to sit up and apologize to Naruto, but he suddenly couldn't think of how he could do so.

All he could think of was how to go to sleep. _I'm… sorry…_he thought as his eyes slid shut and sleep claimed him, all the while not noticing the seal on his stomach that was giving him the bad stomach pains to begin with.

* * *

Usually, when a Konoha shinobi is coming home for the first time, they report straight to the Hokage's office. They are quick to come back into the norm, and they are intent on bringing themselves back into their Hokage's good favor; despite whether or not they'd actually left it to begin with. This unspoken rule was not mandatory, but one thing Tsunade had learned in her eight-year tenure as the Hokage was that she expected it. She awaited it, and she was definitely surprised when she didn't get it.

She looked between the two present Sand shinobi, her eyebrows rising by each quiet moment. She'd been expecting Shizuka to be with them when they checked in with her, but much to her own shock he wasn't there. Shizuka was someone she would expect to do such—she knew he abided by rules—so it was easy to see why it was shocking that he wasn't there. Gaara sighed and sat down in the chair positioned just for him in front of her desk, a chair he'd sat in way too often, in his own opinion.

"Shizuka went to the hospital," he said after a good ten minutes of silence. He turned to Matsuri and gestured for her to stand closer to him. "Since we are both rather unfamiliar with standardized Leaf protocol, I saw no reason to make him accompany me here."

"It's not in the protocol. It's not really required," Tsunade said, snapping out of her daze. "It's just… _expected_. I'm used to my shinobi coming to see me as soon as they come into the village. I though Shizuka might've known that already."

"He might've, but he has been gone for four years, Tsunade-sama," Gaara supplied, "Unintentionally, I've been filling his head with Suna protocol. I've used him on quite a few missions back home, missions that have been quite successful thanks to him. It seems our customs are much different than that of here. It might take him time to readjust to life here."

"Possibly," agreed Tsunade, going into her desk drawer and pulling out a singular scroll. "How was the training? Successful?"

"I believe so. He already had a good emotional control, Tsunade-sama. All I did was sharpen it more. It's very hard to make him feel fearful now, and even harder to really piss him off. And his swordsmanship is above-par. I've also taught him a few techniques involving the sand, which he is quite good at as well. He has a better chakra control now, as well. His skills on a team are also good—he has the capacity to become a leader someday." He pulled out a scroll from his robes, handing it over to the Hokage. "These are notes from my sensei and chief advisor, Baki, and his wife about Shizuka's progress over the past four years. It's full of very good words about him, especially on the topics of swordsmanship and the medical arts. He's helped our medical centers greatly. In fact, he was offered two jobs there before he left."

"Sounds like he is doing well," said Tsunade, nodding as she handed Gaara her own scroll. "These are notations and documentations of every sighting we've had of Kabuto in the past four years. This scroll is the first in a series of twelve, each one holding upwards of a dozen sightings. Each sighting was a note scribbled by our shinobi and sent back to Konoha, and each one ended with one of our shinobi being found dead on the outskirts of a village. They're not always the same villages, either."

Gaara opened the scroll and skimming through it. "We interrogated the messenger before we executed him. They refused to tell us any information—they'd placed a seal on their own tongue so they couldn't tell a thing about Kabuto, or even if they had been making contact with him. Our trackers couldn't keep find any indicator of a second party the messenger would be bringing the info to."

Tsunade sighed. "Many searches I laid were the same. No ANBU was able to find any trace, not even my best trackers in ANBU."

"Do you know if Kabuto was collecting info about the Nara boy?"

"No, I don't. I have reason to suspect, due to the fact that after your messenger turned up dead, Naruto's mysteriously disappeared, but there was no concrete evidence. I believe he was, so I cut off any information I was sending to Naruto concerning either Hanabi or Shizuka." She turned in her chair. "It's frightening me, however, that it looks like Kabuto has seemingly no concrete plan of attack. He simply does."

"I don't know what he's doing," admitted Gaara, "But my objective is to keep Shizuka safe. I care about my student. His safety is my concern."

"Spoken like a true sensei," said Tsunade with a smile. "I don't think Naruto will have a problem with you doing that, when he comes back. I received word a couple of days ago from him with one of his toads that he was on his way back to Konoha."

"So he found him?"

"I believe so. He was very vague in his note, so I assume that for the moment, he's unsure on whether or not to trust me, which makes sense when the fact that I'm keeping the status of two of his former students a secret from him is taken into consideration. But he wouldn't come back if he hadn't found Jiraiya, dead or alive. Naruto is not that type of shinobi." Tsunade turned back around, propping her feet up on the chair, her golden eyes finding Gaara's jade ones. "How long can you stay here for, Gaara? I think I'll need your help."

"Unfortunately, probably only a month at the very most. I can come back after a few weeks. It seems that Kankurō is going to be married within the next few months, with luck, so he'll be staying more often than I am from now until the wedding. He knows every detail of what's going on, as does Temari, so either of them can come for me in case of emergency."

Her eyes widened slightly. "You told them?"

The only thing that showed his surprise with that sort of statement was his quick blink. "Of course. I've always been honest with them, even when I believed I hated them. Why would that change?"

"Don't you worry about them spreading the information to anyone?"

"To be completely honest, the only people my siblings would ever tell are people who could only help us find the answer. I wouldn't get very mad if they told them."

"This information is sensitive."

"Tsunade, it seems that all the shinobi that my siblings and I could possibly get involved exclusively deal with sensitive information. We could only benefit from their aid." He pushed up and off of the chair, his facial expression not changing once. "I'm going to be staying at the Nara house for the time I'm here. Kankurō is supposed to be with us, though more often than not he'll probably be at the Hyūga compound. Matsuri will also be at the Nara compound. You can, therefore, find us there. I want you to give me full detailing of Shizuka's living situation by nine o'clock tonight, as well as what he will be doing now that he is back in Konoha. Can I trust you to give me that much?"

"I'll send Shizune," she said, nodding.

"Actually, I'd prefer it if you sent Shiranui Genma," said Gaara, shaking his head. "Shizuka has told me a lot about him, so I'd like to take the opportunity to make sure this knowledge is fact." Gaara bowed politely. "Thank you, Tsunade. I shall see you tomorrow."

He nodded at Matsuri, who stood to the side and allowed the Kazekage to pass before she followed him out the door, quietly closing Tsunade's door behind her. Tsunade relaxed—she always tensed up around Gaara, it was completely unintentional—and got up, walking over to her window and opening it before she poked her head out, leaning as much as she could out the window in order to get confirmation.

"How much of that conversation did you hear, Genma?" she asked tiredly, staring down at the lazy Jōnin. He looked up, swishing his usual senbon around his mouth. He betrayed no emotions except for boredom, but she knew he had to be feeling more than that. Genma was just an excellent actor sometimes. Reading underneath the underneath was truly necessary with him.

"I heard all of it." Genma jumped up, landing in a crouch on the small edge of Tsunade's awning. "I was wondering if you knew I was there."

"Of course I did." She didn't bother to lie. "What's your opinion?"

"Shizuka's living situation, the fact that the Kazekage wants to talk to me, or the fact that Kabuto is seemingly targeting Shizuka and his friends?"

"The entire thing, mostly."

"Well, the living situation is easy—he'll be staying with me," said Genma, not batting an eye. "The day after ANBU found his apartment raided, I moved his possessions over to my home. He's already familiar with my apartment, and he's familiar with me, so I don't see there being much a problem on that front. I was also expecting Gaara wanting to meet me—he cares about him. Shizuka tends to have that kind of affect on the people he comes across, to make people care about him. It only makes sense that he's grown to care about Shizuka, especially with the fact that an S-class criminal like Kabuto has put his eyes on him. Gaara probably wants to see how far I'd go to protect Shizuka."

"How far is that?"

Genma sighed. "Shizuka… he's more than just my best friend's little brother. I've known him since the day he was born. I was there for many of his firsts. He's like my own little brother. I consider him to be flesh and blood." He stood upright on the awning. "I'm gonna go get him from the hospital. Knowing him, he'll probably lose track of time in there. He's probably the only kid I know that likes going to the hospital." He yawned and pushed his hands in his pockets. "I'll come at eight-thirty for a scheduling outline for him, as well as Shizuka's re-registration documentation. I bet the last thing he'll be remembering to do tonight would be to come here for his papers."

It wasn't until Genma left that Tsunade noticed that he'd—very skillfully—avoided answering her question.

* * *

_"__Obi-chan…_"_Obito sat up in his small bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He felt like he wanted to go back to sleep, but upon looking up at the curtains and seeing the sunlight shining through them, he realized how late it was. Besides, his mother was calling him—and the last thing he wanted was to ignore Okaasan's calling. So he got up out of his warm bed, shuffling his tiny feet forwards until he reached his mother's bedroom. He opened it, already calling his mother, nd then he was promptly stopped in his tracks. _

_Blood ran down the walls, bright red and abundant. Every available inch was covered with the sticky liquid, even the doorknob he just couldn't pull his hand away from. The bed's blankets and sheets had been ripped to shreds by what had to have been an animal—but couldn't have been an animal. It just couldn't be an animal. His dark brown eyes widened to see a bloodied figure standing in the middle of the room, the sheer amount of blood making his locks stick to his forehead and stop Obito from being able to see his face. The figure was about his height, and possibly his age, too—which was why he was especially terrified to see an unrecognizable person in his grip, his face too beat up for Obito to discern his identity. The person was definitely older than he was—in fact, he was an adult—and he was also a shinobi of the Earth, if the symbol engraved on the metal of the forehead protector wasn't lying to him. _

_"__Please…" sobbed the man as the bloodstained child pressed his fingers into his cheek, his tiny fingernails easily breaking through the flesh and making more blood weep down the man's cheek and onto the floor. "Please, let me go. Let me go." _

_"__**WHY?**__" Obito couldn't stop himself from shivering in fear at the sick tone that the boy's voice had. He could tell that he enjoyed killing. He could also tell that this man, begging for mercy and forgiveness for whatever sin he may have committed, wasn't going to be let go. No… he was going to die. He was going to die a painful, horrible death; he could tell at the young age he was at, and yet… he couldn't move. He couldn't do a thing? Why couldn't he do anything? "__**WHY SHOULD I LET YOU GO…?**__"_

_"__Have mercy…" begged the man. _

_"__You and your friends didn't have mercy." _

_"__I'm sorry! Please! Let me go, please! I won't tell…!" _

_"__You won't. Because you're not leaving." The boy moved quicker than Obito could catch onto, and in a flash, the man's tongue was in his small hands, still twitching, and probably still warm. The man made a loud gargling sound, his mouth filling with blood. The boy let him fall to the ground, sitting on his chest as he watched with great interest the man's slow, agonizing death. _

_"__Obi-chan… he's the last one." His mother's voice. Where was she? And why was she calling this boy Obi-chan? He was Obi-chan. And why was she… helping him? Egging him on? Supporting him? What was his Okaasan doing?_

_"__Okaasan?" he asked, his eyes widening when he realized that his voice came out of the boy's lip at the exact same time. The boy looked up, pushing his sticky, bloodied hair up and out of his face in the process in order to get a good look at the person whose mouth he apparently shared. Obito shivered to see his face on this boy, and even his eyes—his Rinnegan, his Sharingan. _

_"__Okaasan," Obito repeated, this time out of pure fear as his body began to shiver. The boy in front of him, indeed, said the same thing at the exact same time, but he smirked, getting to his feet and walking over to Obito, picking up a bloodied kunai knife off of the ground. _

_"__You," the boy forced him to say at the same time, pointing at him with the kunai, "You're holding me back. If you're gone, I will have this body." He pressed the sword against Obito's belly, and Obito couldn't stop himself from silently crying, his eyes wide with terror. The Sharingan could foresee no possible way out, and the Rinnegan refused to do anything—he wasn't calm enough. Surprisingly, the bloodied version of himself echoed his tears, but his eyes were filled with happiness. "If you're gone, I can kill all I want." He pulled back his arm, holding the kunai high above. "If you're gone, this body is all __**mine**__!" _

_He couldn't hold him back anymore. He opened his mouth and screamed… _"Obito." _…the kunai made its way down, striking him in the neck, close to his shoulder, and spilling his warm blood across the floor. He still screamed, grabbing the other boy's arm, trying to stop him from pulling up his arm anymore. The boy decided that Obito's fighting irritated him—so he pushed the fingers of his free hand into the large wound he'd made in him… _"Obito, wake up!" _…and made Obito cry out in pain, and in terror, as he made the wound wider by scissoring his fingers, making more blood drip down in rivulets over his fingers and Obito's arm, making the torture that was pain expanding… _"OBITO, WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

Obito snapped into consciousness, sitting bolt upright and pushing himself off of the futon at the same time, ignoring the pain of landing on the ground and pushing himself into a corner, holding up his hands, chakra surrounding the appendages. A hand touched his shoulder, and he simply reacted, striking the person in the throat with a sharp jab with his right hand, and then thrusting the heel of his palm into their jaw, throwing them back a meter or so. Coughing punctuated the air, coughing that he hardly noticed due to his state of panic. He couldn't honestly tell if the person who had attempted to touch him was trying to help, nor did he care. All he felt was fear—fear that his body was going to be taken from him, fear that he was going to be killed for his body.

"I don't wanna die," he said in a rushed voice, pushing his forehead against the wall, "I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I'm not ready to die. I don't wanna die. Please don't make me die."

Gently, a hand touched the sweat-slicked nape of his neck. He began to lash out again, only to get his hands caught by a larger pair. "You're not gonna die," soothed a masculine voice as a hand pushed off his hair from his sweaty forehead. "You're not gonna die. I'm not gonna let that happen."

It took a while—how long, Obito didn't truly know—but he eventually calmed down, his breathing once again coming back to a better pace, his heart slowing down to its normal speed. He opened his eyes tiredly to see Jiraiya and Naruto standing over him, concern for him obvious in the depths of their eyes. He looked between his two mentors, realization catching up with him—especially when he noticed that Jiraiya was developing bruises on his throat and on his jaw line. "Sempai; did you…?" he said, his eyes widening.

"Get in the way of your hands? Yeah, he did," Naruto answered for him as Jiraiya glared at the Uzumaki. Naruto was oblivious to his look, instead choosing to help the seventeen-year-old to his feet. "What happened? What were you dreaming about?"

"Meiwaku," Obito responded, making Naruto snort softly out of his nose, despite the situation. He'd picked out that name for the other personality, a name he was very proud of in the fact that it'd stuck. What better way was there to describe the other personality than as an annoyance, after all? "He was there, but when he—I—we were younger. He had just killed someone, and he was going to kill me, too, so he could have my body."

Naruto frowned. "Doesn't sound like Meiwaku. He doesn't want you dead." Far from it, he'd found—in their training, they found that the other personality aimed to simply protect Obito. That was all it wanted in life—after all, he wouldn't have been alive if Obito hadn't. So the idea that Meiwaku would try to kill him was slightly odd. Actually, odd was an understatement—it was downright impossible, if Meiwaku was lying—which, as far as Naruto had figured out, it seemed Meiwaku was completely incapable of the prospect. In fact, Naruto sometimes wished Meiwaku would be a little less honest sometimes, because he could very hurtful with some of his comments (Obito had told him everything Meiwaku had said about him once, it was a depressing day).

Obito sighed shakily. The only one who doubted Meiwaku's utmost sincerity was him. "I keep telling myself that, but it seemed real, as if it was really going to happen. It was like I was really going to lose my body to him."

"Ask him if he caused it," said Naruto.

"No," denied Obito right off the bat. "I know he wants my safety, but I still can't trust him. Maybe I'm still scared of him, but right now, I'm not ready to willingly give my body over to him. I won't ever give my body to him. You know that, sensei, you know that." Naruto sighed, but he didn't push his idea. It could only get worse if he did push him on it. "But I'm sure he didn't do it. I don't think, if he would attack me, he would attack me like that. He doesn't strike to be the one to mentally torture me."

"Okay. So it was a run-of-the-mill nightmare?" asked Naruto.

"Not that either. It was vivid. I have no idea what that was, but that wasn't just a regular nightmare." He wanted to speak more, but where the nightmare version of Meiwaku had stabbed him was incredibly painful; almost enflamed, and he wanted to cry out in pain when he had touched it. "I dunno, but sensei, it's really painful right here. He stabbed me here in my dream." Naruto frowned, gently pushing Obito's fingers off of his own neck and staring at it. He bit his lip, his blue eyes taking on an edge Obito hadn't seen before in him. "Sensei, what's wrong?"

"Jiraiya." Both males flinched at the use of Jiraiya's actual name by Naruto, something that never happened. Jiraiya got up, walking up over to the two of them and looking at the spot Naruto was particularly intrigued with. Immediately upon seeing it, Jiraiya became serious, no longer favoring his throat or his jaw. "Jiraiya, is this thingy permanent?" _What thingy?_ Obito thought, growing confused and worried.

"No," he said in a hoarse voice, ghosting his fingers over Obito's neck. "No, it's not. This is something I've seen before, but I don't know enough to be able to do anything about it. We need to rush back to Konoha." Jiraiya stood up, his frown growing. "Right now, at the pace we're at, we'd be there in about a week. We need to get there in days." He pushed aside the curtains of their inn room, looking outside. "We've only been here for two hours. Let's clean up and get out. We need to rush ourselves to Konoha." Jiraiya walked around the futon, picking up his bag. "We need to get out without anyone noticing."

"Why can't anyone notice?" Obito asked, confused.

Jiraiya flicked a glance at Obito, his eyebrows furrowed. "Brat. Do me a favor, lift up your shirt." Obito turned around, a confused look on his face. Jiraiya glared at him. "You damaged my throat and jaw, brat. Just lift up your damn shirt." Obito sighed, pulling up the bottom of his shirt and showing his bared torso to Jiraiya, a blush growing quickly on his cheeks. "Remember those girls who were touching you. One of them touched your stomach, under your shirt. Point to where." He frowned, his fingers finding the all-too-sensitive spot, right above his navel. "Look down now; tell me what you see." Obito frowned, and then his eyes widened.

"Is that a… is that a curse seal?" he asked, his worry developing by exponential amounts by the second. "Jiraiya-sempai, when the hell did I get a curse seal?"

"You have two of 'em. Where your neck hurts is where the other one is. They're both temporary forms, given to you by those kunoichi who were molesting you at the back at the bar. Those kunoichi are probably dead by now, and if they're alive, they fully intend on looking for you. These curse seals were fully intended to take your chakra and killing you. That nightmare was Meiwaku's way of waking you up before they could take your chakra. You should be thanking the little asshole, though I personally think he could've picked a better way." Jiraiya threw his pack at him, and Obito dropped his shirt in order to grab it before it hit him. "Now get packed again. We're leaving now."

Obito looked down at himself, his fingers touching the chakra seal momentarily. He frowned, annoyed. How could he have let this happen? What kind of fresh new idiot was he? "How does this come off?"

"I don't know, but don't sleep. It waits until you're in deep sleep to take chakra. We'll try to keep you up until we get back to Konohagakure." Jiraiya turned around, a perverted, creepy look on his face that slightly surprised Obito. "You know, if those girls came over to me and started touching me like that… I wouldn't have stopped them at all."

Obito blinked, staring at him, and Naruto glared daggers at the perverted older man. Obito opened his mouth, his brow furrowing, and said, with a chuckle: "Jiraiya-sensei, you're such a perv."

And Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle, remembering a time so long ago when he'd said almost the exact same to his own sensei—except it was, of course, under completely different circumstances, but still, the humor of the moment stayed.

* * *

Curse seals are an interesting art.

Kabuto knew a lot of things about this world, due to the fact that he was a Konoha ROOT agent and had been required to learn such things, but he hadn't known until he became Orochimaru's spy how the art of sealing truly worked. He hadn't known how it was done, and he also hadn't known the broad spectrum of seals that existed in this world. Orochimaru used what seemed to be tens of thousands of different curse seals in his hideout, and Kabuto, never liking to be unknowledgeable about something, studied each and every single one he could find, figuring out exactly how they worked, and how he could manipulate them himself.

And he also learned how to create them. That had been the most fun Kabuto had; creating his own seals. Mainly it was because of the trial-and-error process he had to go through—he didn't enjoy fucking up, per say, but he did enjoy the screams of pain and terror that each test subject made as he practiced on them. But when he succeeded… he was ecstatic. It was the most amazing rush when it succeeded its purpose, and he had a perfect curse seal to lay on his own gathering.

Orochimaru would hate him so much for excelling at this.

"Did you place the seals on him?" he asked the three kunoichi he'd sent out to the bar he knew Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Obito to be in. The kunoichi all smiled brightly, though hesitantly, and nodded, wanting to please their lord. Kabuto smirked to himself at their naivety. Oh, how innocent these new ones to his flock were. How stupidly innocent. He looked to his side, to the silver-haired boy sitting down on the ground beside his chair, his bright purple eyes showing disdain and irritation at the sight of Kabuto. He knew that his pet hated him. It wasn't a secret. But as so long this boy had that curse seal on his neck, he wasn't going anywhere. He couldn't do anything.

"I have a sacrifice for you, Naito," he said gleefully.

Naito cocked his head slightly, his purple gaze touching each female. "Truly sacrificial? I can do what I want with them?"

"I want their bodies intact, but yes. Yes, you can do what you want. You can rape them if you see fit." The kunoichi's minds began to catch up with what Kabuto was saying, and one moved to run out. Immediately, one of Kabuto's guards pushed them back to where they once stood, making sure they knew that there was no escape.

"B-But… Kabuto-sama, we served you well!" the kunoichi said, eyes wide in fear as they flitted from Kabuto to Naito. Kabuto chuckled, snapping his fingers for a guard. The guard was by his side immediately, already holding what he wanted. Kabuto took the long knife from the guard, holding it out for Naito to take. The first few times he'd done that, Naito had tried to kill him. The boy knew better than that now—that curse seal was too painful for even him. Naito grumbled and got to his feet, snatching his sacrificial knife out of Kabuto's hands.

"You heathens need to stop fucking taking my damned knife," he growled at Kabuto.

"Prove to me that I can trust you, and I might," responded Kabuto in a cold voice, nodding his head to the kunoichi, who were all trying to struggle to get free. "You may begin your sacrifice, Naito."

Naito scowled. "I want better sacrifices. Better than these cunts. He'd better appreciate the sacrifice if they were better than these bitches."

Kabuto rolled his eyes. Religious fanatics were annoying, but he held his tongue. He needed that religion for what he wanted, and what he would make sure to have. "I promise a better kill next time," he lied.

Naito glared at him. "You are a bad fucking liar, four-eyes," he spat before he rolled his shoulders. "None of you understand what a good kill truly is. None of you have heard His word. None of you understand His message. A good kill would be for me to kill every single fucking one of you. He would love that," Naito said, but moved forwards, pressing his hands together and closing his eyes when he was a meter away from the struggling kunoichi. Kabuto watched with fascination as the boy silently began to pray to his wayward god, the screams of terror of each kunoichi rising with every word they seemed to read off his lips.

The kill was quick, nearly too quick, but it was amazing to watch nonetheless. Naito had a practiced air about his sacrificial kills, a certain grace that Kabuto couldn't help but wonder was in his other target. The bodies of the three kunoichi fell to the ground when the guards let go, their bodies making dull thuds against the cement ground. Naito raised the blood-slicked blade to his lips, his tongue snaking out from between his lips before he said in a slow, menacing, and meaningful voice:

"In the name of Jashin, I accept this kill."

When he licked the blade, Kabuto found himself excited he'd found such an amazing pet, and he was proud that his curse seal was the perfect leash.

* * *

_**OH GOD**_

_**WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME**_

_**WHY AM I SO DARK AND LIKE KILLING OFF RANDOM PEOPLE FOR NO REASON**_

_**Okay, in my defense, it **_**isn't**_**for no reason. It's for the sake of the plot, but... God. Just... God. There really is something wrong with me. Really something wrong with me for thinking about this stuff for a story, and really something wrong with me for having spent the last few days writing stuff [for this story] that is more dark than this ending (this ending is actually light). People are really going to hate me when you guys read these dark chapters I'm referring to, for what I do to these characters, but it's my story, so IDGAF! lol. It's not like I'll leave it unhappy. It's for the sake of the plot of this story that I will so mysteriously place into it without explanation. **_

_**Moving on... I wonder what you guys are thinking about Naito. I think I made his character almost too obvious, but... I don't care. He wasn't going to be introduced until much later, but the lure of bringing him early was too great to ignore. But what do you guys think about him? I'm really curious... :T  
**_

_**Thank you **__**sailormoonangel1**__**, thanks for liking Obito! I put a lot of work into him, and I'm glad that you like him and the rest of my OCs. I try to make them as realistic in the Narutoverse as possible, and it makes me glad to know they're appreciated. Kiba and Sasuke action? Just wait. It will happen xP I couldn't help myself. And thank you **__**PX**__**, for complimenting my writing skills (though I don't think they're all that great) and my choice of pairing Kiba and Sasuke together. I like making weird and unusual pairings. It amuses me to no end, and I like showing people how they could possibly work as a thing. **_

_**Next chapter should be up before next Wednesday (today is Wednesday, right?) :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you enjoy your days! **_

_**{BTW: that curse seal part I mentioned? I know it doesn't seem important now, the fact that he's creating his own, but trust me. It so definitely is. You'll see. Just remember it ;) }**_

_**Also, I've changed the chapter's name (7/18/2013) because I thought 'Chaos' was more fitting than 'Change'. **_


	8. Chapter 7: Parenthood

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **_

* * *

_PARENTHOOD_

_/__ˈ__per-__ə__nt-__ˌ__hůd/_

_the state of being a parent and the responsibilities involved [parent: a father or a mother; be or act as a mother or father to (someone) whether adopted or biological; to give (a child) nurturing and love; a guardian or protector to a person]_

* * *

"Sonova_bitch_!"

Shizune blinked, pausing as she was placing her key card in the slot to enter the labs. _Why does it sound like there's a KID in the medical labs? _Shizune thought frantically as she pushed her key card in, pushing open the door to find a teenaged boy washing his hands, biting his lip in frustration.

"Who are you?" Shizune asked the boy as soon as she collected herself from the surprise of seeing a teenager. He blinked in slight surprise, his hands still under the water coming out of the faucet. He remained silent for a moment while Shizune finished collecting herself, upon which her brow furrowed in slight irritation at being unanswered by the foreign intruder. "Well? Who are you?"

"I'm Shizuka." He turned off the water and turned his face completely towards Shizune. "I'm sixteen years old. I'm a Chūnin," he said calmly, pointing his forehead protector, signifying the village he was from.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in here?"

"Key card. It's basically the same key card here as in Sunagakure, though yours gives you so much more access to other things. And I'm running tests on different medicines and concoctions I developed while in Suna," said Shizuka, drying off his hands and snapping on a new pair of gloves. "The tip of my glove split open and a small amount of blood touched my fingertip, so I had to disinfect. If you heard me cursing, that's why." He smiled and slipped back into his stool, picking up his tools. "Sorry if I scared you. I was told that as long as I wasn't going to rip apart dead bodies and leave them for you guys, it was okay for me to be in here alone, especially when I had Akihana-sempai's letter of recommendation."

"Akihana… hospital head of Suna?"

"Correct. She was one of the people who taught me." He removed his eyes from the viewfinder, taking the slide off and placing it neatly in the pile he had.

"What are those?" Shizune asked, pointing at the slides that each had a tell-tale dot of blood on it.

"Hmm? Ah, those are my samples from the subject I'm testing my medications on," he said. "Hyūga Hanabi's blood. It's been in the fridge for a while, but it was all okay. I'm testing it on the different medications I developed in Suna to see if anything might be helpful for her case." He pulled a small box out of one of the pockets of his over-sized jacket, opening it and carefully placing each slide in.

"How many?"

"Roughly over thirty."

Shizune raised an eyebrow. "How old are you again?"

"Sixteen. Why?"

"How did you develop that many medications?"

He raised an eyebrow before he chuckled to himself. "Well, I based them all off of Hanabi's current medication. A couple of them are simple enhancers of the medication. Some of them are quite different." He slipped the case back into his pocket, and turned to look at Shizune. "Aren't you the Hokage's assistant?"

"Shizune," she said, "Yes."

"Genma talked about you a lot," he said, smiling softly at the thought of the older male. Shizune, however, blushed and looked away from him, embarrassed and mentally cursing. "He said you were an amazing medic, as well as a skilled kunoichi."

She looked back. "Is that all?" she asked shyly.

"He also said you were really pretty. This is the truth—obviously." His smile widened. "Well, I have to go. It was good to talk to you, Shizune. Should I say hi to Genma for you, if and when I see him?"

Shizune opened her mouth to say _no_, but she was interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice that made her heart want to leap into her throat: "No, that sounds like it would be a stupid idea, Shizuka, considering I see her practically every day anyways and besides, I'm already here."

Shizuka looked past Shizune and smiled at Genma, who was half-glaring at him. Shizuka knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew that it was a dirty way to do things, but he didn't truly care. He found it too amusing to care, and didn't the end justify the means? "Oh. Hey, Genm. I didn't notice you there." Technically a bald-faced lie, but what Shizune didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"I came to get you," Genma said, carefully maneuvering past Shizune, gently brushing against her arm. "We have a lot to do to get you settled back into the village. I'd like to get that started as early as possible, dear otōto." Shizuka smiled wider. Boy, Genma sounded pissed. When he was much younger, he didn't call him that unless he did something wrong. He smiled easily at Genma, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Shizune," Shizuka said pleasantly, smiling brightly at the woman as he walked past her and Genma both, but not before he took her slender hand in his and raised it up to his lips, kissing it. He got the reaction he wanted—she blushed, and Genma glared daggers at him.

Maybe it wasn't the best thing to provoke a man who could spit a senbon out of his mouth and accurately hit a target from meters away, but it was amusing and he just couldn't help it.

She nodded; still stuck on the fact Genma was that close to her. Genma smiled politely down at her, trying to ignore the awkwardness of the moment.

"How are you?" he asked, swishing around the senbon.

"Good," she murmured, finally finding control over her body and walking forwards, walking over to the drawers and opening them. "I'm good. How are… how are you, Genma? Doing well?"

"Hmm? Yeah. I guess I am. Better than I thought I'd be doing." He paused. "Um… Shizu, you, ah… you left a couple of your shirts at my place. I keep forgetting to bring them by to your flat. I was gonna go see Tsunade at eight-thirty anyways, so… do you want me to bring them by for you, when I go to see Tsunade? That's if you're working tonight, I mean…"

"Of course I'm working tonight. I work every night."

Genma coughed. Yes, he remembered _that _fact all too well.

Another awkward silence overtook them, and he sighed. This was not getting easier. _Fucking Shizuka,_ he thought irritably. "Well, Shizune, I guess I'll see you later, then. It was… it was good to see you."

Shizune nodded, angling her face away. "Good to see you too, Genma," she said quickly. Genma nodded again, staying in place for just a moment more before he walked out of the room, glaring over at Shizuka, whose arms were crossed over his chest, one eyebrow cocked up at him. Genma could tell by the look on his face that _he _was irritated at _him_, much to Genma's already-growing irritation.

He pointed in the face of his brother. "Don't do that again," he growled, "Never do that ever again unless you want me to kill you."

"When did you and Shizune-san go out, Genma?" asked Shizuka in a no-nonsense tone, getting it across to Genma that he did not appreciate being left out in the dark about the relationship between Shizune and Genma.

Genma sighed. "Not that it's your business, but, about six months ago, we ended. We were together for five months before that. But you shouldn't go around doing that!" he yelled at him, hands on his hips. "Shit, Shizuka, this is the first time I've seen you in four years, and all I wanna do is hit you upside the head with a fucking bat. I don't wanna fight with you in the first few moments of me seeing you."

Shizuka sighed, and shrugged. "Fine. But I want to know why you guys aren't together. It's obvious you still like each other."

Genma couldn't help but sigh himself in response, his anger dissipating as quickly as it had come on. Shizuka was not stupid, and he wasn't an idiot, either. He couldn't just pretend not to see what it was that he was talking about. "Yeah… yeah, I know, Zuka. I know."

* * *

"You can't catch me!" laughed Hayato as he ran across the courtyard, his cheeks rosy red and his breath heavy from all the running around he was doing. His brown jacket flew behind him like a cape, and for once, his unruly silvery blue locks flowed back away from his face rather than obscuring his right eye like it usually did. His grey eyes were alive with excitement and challenge, daring anyone who met his gaze to attempt to catch up with him; attempt to catch him.

"You can't catch me! You're all too slow!" he teased again, sticking out his tongue as he jumped over one boy's shoulder; who was getting very irritated with this under-classman's antics. Hayato even—and Kakashi wasn't all too sure where he got this from, probably Hanabi, she was mischievous enough—slapped a boy's ass before dipping under his legs, sliding out just in time for other boys to end up tackling the boy to the ground by accident.

Hayato cackled with happiness and mischief, and Kakashi simply watched on, entranced by his son's antics, not inclined to reprimand the child in the least (he figured if he could get away with it, they kind of deserved it). He wondered, to himself, if the things Hayato did would ever cease to amaze him. So far, it wasn't looking that way.

"Your son will be a very good escape artist someday, like Hanabi," said Neji with a sigh, leaning back against the lunch table he sat at with Kakashi. He chuckled, watching his young son with great amusement. "He's also rather smart. I'm almost sure we'll be graduating him early, but the only problem with him is that he seems to have little to no drive to excel. He just does. He puts no work into it, and he's at the top of his class without trying. He jokes and kids and fools around, but he gets his work done before anyone else. It's troubling to see that he doesn't take much of anything seriously."

"I was the same way, minus the mischief," he responded, smiling as he watched Hayato entertain himself by pissing off upper-classmen at the Academy. "I'm sorry if he's a handful. Sometimes, I'm actually quite sure he has more energy than Lee or even Gai."

Neji laughed lightly in response. "One would think so, wouldn't they? But it's impossible for anyone to have more energy than Lee and Gai. It's a good thing Lee can't pass the practical exam to make Jōnin, without any ninjutsu. Can you imagine him with a Genin group?" The two shinobi temporarily had a lapse in serious composure as they dissolved into a fit of laughter, imagining kids with tortured looks, tears, shiny bowl haircuts and those hideous green-blue jumpsuits and those bright orange legwarmers. After calming down, Neji continued with a laugh still in his voice, "Anyways, don't worry. If I couldn't handle being on a team with Lee, then I have absolutely no business teaching."

Kakashi smirked behind his mask. "That's a smart ideology, Neji-san." He looked back at Hayato, his smirk becoming a soft smile. He was glad to see Hayato having fun. Four years ago, he wasn't able to. Four years ago, he was blind. Four years ago, Hayato was all alone because of his blindness, and he doubted he would ever enjoy his life like other children would. "I can't thank you enough for what your clan did for him, Neji-san."

Neji blinked, and then smiled softly, closing his eyes. "Kakashi-sensei, I've told you a multitude of times already, thanks are unnecessary. The eyes are sensitive organs, and a necessity in our clan. What we did for him was something every Hyūga goes through at least once in their life, and possibly every Uchiha, too."

"You didn't have to fix his eyes. You could've left them."

"Why would we? What kind of new breed of bastard would we be if we were to leave a four-year-old boy with his entire life ahead of him blind for the rest of his life? Especially one that has an almost devout worship of our heiress?" He cracked open one eye. "Hayato is a part of Hinata-sama's life, Kakashi-sensei. _You're_ a part of her life. Giving Hayato his sight back was important to her and to you." He flicked a glance at the boy that was their topic of conversation. "Why would we have lost Konoha a valuable shinobi?"

"I know that your council didn't want to do it."

Neji sighed, visibly irritated just at the _mention_ of the council. "They don't want to do anything that doesn't benefit themselves. They're old asses that need to drop dead sometime soon so their less idiotic children can come to the advisory council instead."

"Maa, I take it that the negotiation for Hinata-sama and Kankurō's marriage is not going good?" Kakashi asked his smile fading away as he looked over at the Hyūga prodigy, who opened scowled off into the distance.

"Some of the old farts want her to marry my thirty-fifth-removed cousin from the Main Branch, who is a creepy little fuck with little buck teeth and the weakest Byakugan I've ever seen before in my entire life, because he is the grandson of one of the council members. Others want to marry her to Kankurō in exchange for money—a large sum of money the clan doesn't even need—and evict her from the seat of heiress. Some of them even want her to marry her off to Uchiha Itachi, let her keep the seat of heiress, and merge the small Uchiha clan into ours."

"Sounds… disgusting," Kakashi said; his one visible eye wide. "How long have you guys been negotiating this?"

"Three and a half years. It took six months for Hiashi-sama to develop the case he made—and it only took six seconds for them to deny it, saying that romance should be the last thing on Hiashi-sama's mind, as the clan head of the Hyūga. In fact, they spent a longer time taking into consideration about who Hiashi-sama should take as a wife rather than taking into consideration who Hiashi-sama thought should be Hinata-sama's husband. It was quite aggravating."

"Why don't you just marry Hinata to Kankurō? Fuck the council."

Neji sighed. "The current council has been there since before Hiashi-sama became the clan head. The head of the council is the man who officiates any marriage ceremony involving specifically the future clan heads. Unless Hiashi-sama wants to take away Hinata-sama's inheritance, his hands are tied. He has to get their consent before anything remotely related to a marriage takes place—which it would, exactly six months after Hinata-sama's twenty-first birthday, the same day she claims her inheritance."

"Shouldn't she marry before then?" Kakashi asked, confused.

"No. Well, if Hinata-sama was a boy, then yes. The Hyūga clan was founded on very sexist principles, Kakashi-sensei, and although the current members of the clan don't think that way about women, the council most certainly does.

"If a woman is married before they take the head, then it's basically like the husband was inaugurated. They think women to be idiotic, so that six-month period is to prove that a woman can lead the clan on their own. I guess it's kind of like a thirty-day trial of some good, and then a full refund is given if unsatisfied. And since Hiashi-sama's possible male heir was a stillborn, the heresy transfers from his family to the next closest, which is some idiot by the name of Yakiro, who is the very definition of a tool. Hanabi-sama, because she's second-born and a girl, is immediately disqualified if they feel Hinata-sama is not up to par."

"And what about you?"

"No. Not me." The finality that sounded in Neji's voice was something that dared to be refuted, but the beat-down overtone his voice took on hinted that he wished someone would—but Kakashi didn't know nearly enough about the Hyūga clan to be able to do so, but he really wished he could. Neji had worked hard to get to where he was—if neither Hinata nor Hanabi were an option to lead the clan, he most definitely should, no matter which house he belonged to.

* * *

"Did the layout of the entire village change while I was gone or something?" Shizuka said aloud, stretching his tight muscles and yawning. He had been walking around for a while now, at Genma's suggestion, so he could readjust to Konoha's geography and general layout. While he had originally mentally scoffed at the idea, he now knew it as the blessing it was. If he hadn't wasted two hours of his life like this, he probably would've been lost at some point during the next week and forced to ask for help.

He'd stripped off his long robes and his jacket when he had arrived at Genma's home, seeing no need for them there. Back in Sunagakure, he'd learned early on it was better to cover up as much as possible while in the desert terrain, as to avoid harsh burns from the sun and scalding sand. While he was glad to shed the extra twenty pounds of weight, he couldn't help but feel slightly cold in Konoha that night, but the cold was a sort of relief, oddly; so he allowed himself to wear a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of black rolled-up sweatpants, his scarred shins covered with thick wraps.

Several women ogled him, much to his own confusion. He still kept his low self-confidence, and didn't quite figure out that he'd grown into quite a handsome young man, taking much after his brother in that respect. Confused, he rubbed the back of his neck, walking away from them in search of something more important at that juncture—food.

He found himself at the ramen stand he'd frequented in his Genin days with his team, a small smile creeping onto his face at the sight of it. Without any hesitation, he walked forwards, moving the small curtain out of his way and beginning to smile at old man Teuchi…

…before he was stopped in his tracks by the sight of a young girl sitting in the stool, smiling and laughing with Teuchi's daughter. The young girl had long dark chocolate hair that flowed down her back, held up by what had to be an industrial-strength ponytail holder. Her bangs were just overlong, and they fit her perfectly, along with the strands of fair that went across her face, just like…

His eyes widened upon realization of whom he was ogling, and his face turned into an easy smile. Without hesitation, he slipped into the stool next to her, not looking at her.

"Hello," he said politely, smiling, "Can I get a Naruto special, please?"

Teuchi looked him up and down, about to say that the Naruto special was only for citizens of Konohagakure until he recognized the boy in front of him. He smiled wide, crossing his arms over his broth-stained smock. "Well, what do you know," he said, drawing both females' attentions, "If it isn't one of the lost boys. I haven't seen you in a long time."

"I can't lie, Teuchi-san, I've missed you a lot," Shizuka said, still smiling at him before he stuck his tongue out. "But _apparently_, I _wasn't_ missed by others." He flicked a glance over at the female next to him, who blinked in surprise; "_Especially_ by _supposed _best friends." Her pale eyes widened in surprise, realization running through them and in a flash, her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, a shout of excitement escaping her lips.

"ZUKA-KUN!" Hanabi said happily, pressing her lips against Shizuka's cheek, not caring if his cheeks burned bright red. Emotional training or not, shyness is not something that goes away that quickly, even in someone who appeared to be so confident now. "Shizuka-kun, you're back! You're back, you're back, you're back, you're _back_! I missed you!" She said, pulling away with a bright grin before she punched him in the arm. He winced, glaring up at her in confusion and pain. Hanabi could pack a wallop. "That's for never writing me or even sending a picture of yourself! How the hell else was I supposed to know what you look like now!"

"I didn't change; Teuchi recognized me," said Shizuka crossly.

"Of course you changed! Besides, you weren't looking straight at me! How the hell could I tell when you're wearing your headband like that? You're barely showing your eyebrows." He frowned, touching his hitai-ate. That was how Hayate wore his headbands… why should he wear them any different? "But its okay, because you're back; my best friend is back!" She smiled wider. "Tell me _everything_!"

"Well… I can't tell you everything…" he said slowly.

She glared, making him shiver. "I'm your _best friend_," she said, feigning a hurt tone. "Why wouldn't you tell me everything?"

He bit his bottom lip, frowning. _DAMMIT!_ Shizuka thought, holding back his need to frown. Hanabi appealed to his deep-down desire to please people, especially her. "I can only tell you so much, though, Nabi-chan," he said as Teuchi put down a Naruto special in front of him. "A lot of it is classified. A majority of it is the business of the Kazekage and only he decides whether or not I can spread it."

"Ooh, classified information," she teased with a bright smile, picking up his chopsticks and stealing some of his noodles, "The best kind. Tell me everything you can." He frowned down at her, looking at her hands, and decided to let it go, asking for another pair of chopsticks instead. He knew he wasn't going to get out of this without sharing food—so he might as well just suck it up and allow her to mooch. It was the path of least resistance, and resistance was futile.

* * *

If there was anything Shiranui Genma had learned in the twenty-some-odd years he had been a shinobi, it was that he needed to accept and expect that any situation can have a variety of different outcomes to it. It didn't necessarily mean that he couldn't be surprised—he was only human, after all; surprise was to be expected—nor did it mean that even the absolutely impossible had its place in a situation. While he couldn't expect exactly every detail of every reaction of every situation, he could expect that sometimes, the weirdest things might occur.

It was simply a part of being a shinobi.

He had, by some work of some deity, managed to avoid seeing Shizune when he went to the Hokage's office that night. Seeing her earlier, though it had been nice, was tough and irritating and aggravating and frustrating—mostly frustrating—and he really didn't want a repeat performance of the awkwardness of having unsettled business with your ex, and he most definitely had unsettled business with her. He knew he still had feelings for her, feelings that only increased, but at the same time, he also knew that if he chose to get back into a relationship with her, she'd always put the Hokage before him. It wasn't that he didn't respect her for valuing her job, but it would be nice to be able to have _one_ dinner with her and not have it be interrupted by some frazzled Chūnin trying to figure out how to best diffuse Tsunade.

In Shizune's book, he would always be _second _to her. Tsunade was her number-one, and it didn't matter how valiant it was; it was just so _irritating_. Genma wasn't greedy, but damn, there were some things that he didn't think he had to share with his village, and he figured that his girlfriend might be one of them. He thought he earned someone to keep all to himself. That he found someone to give his all to. But while he was giving his all to their relationship, Shizune didn't even fight when she was called by Tsunade. Once they'd been interrupted during _sex_, of all things, and all she did was pull back on her clothing and disappeared for about two days cleaning up Tsunade's mess. As someone who usually half-assed things for the minimum positive results, it was annoying him that she wasn't spending as much time with him as he did at her job.

It frustrated him that she was married to her job, and he was like some mistress to the side. He only grew more and more dissatisfied with the fact that he wasn't getting what he gave (and his dissatisfaction only increased when he stopped _getting any_ steadily, naturally) and did what any reasonable, but idiotic, male would do:

He offered Shizune a sort of ultimatum.

He told her that her time off from work should be spent doing something she _enjoyed_ rather than helping Tsunade clean up one of her fantastic fuck-ups, and that when she was spending time with her own boyfriend, she should focus on _him_ instead on her job. So he told her she could change this and be a lot less tired all the time and have space in her life for more than just the Hokage or they could break up so she could focus on her job.

It's easy to tell which one she chose.

In retrospect, Genma figured that putting her into a position like that was what made her choose to break up with him. Though many of his male friends insisted he was in the right, some of his female friends (namely Kurenai and Anko) told him he was being the clingy boyfriend, and that was why Shizune chose Tsunade over him. He could see their point, but… he was right. He just knew he was right…

"Genma." He blinked, snapping out of his daze and looking at Tsunade, who gave him a worried look. She was standing in her doorway, which was unusual because she was lazy and her alcohol was at her desk. "Genma, you've been standing here for five and a half minutes. I wouldn't be as worried if it weren't for the fact that all you've been doing is staring at Shizune's desk. You could just admit you were wrong to force her into a corner and get her back."

He blinked. "You know?"

She shrugged. "Of course. She told me the night-of. She doesn't hide much from me." She grinned. "She said you were acting as if you were a hurt mistress." Genma moved the senbon around in his mouth, resisting the urge to glare. "She was very confused about it by the way. Still is."

He shrugged, forcing himself not to care. "It's in the past."

"Not really. Anyone who passes you can tell you guys are still awkward around each other. It's, quite frankly, sad, mostly because she doesn't really realize she's married to her job." _Now _he glared. "Okay, admittedly it's kind of because I can hardly handle myself without her. I'm a very irresponsible Hokage." She giggled, not at all ashamed of herself, and Genma's glare only hardened, a vein pulsing hard in his temple. "Either way, you're both unhappy, and you both daydream about each other at the oddest of times. Just admit you were wrong and get the dumb girl back."

"I'm not wrong!" he snapped. Really, _where the hell_ was he _wrong_ in his demands? If it had been Shizune saying them, every female would've taken her side! He resisted the urge to sigh. Females were more complicated than most S-ranked missions. There was no such thing as _winning, _not with a single damned fucking one of them!

"I know you're not, and as the woman who forced her to marry this job, that's saying something," she said, a small blush on her cheeks as she returned his glare. She sighed, finally visibly giving up. "Just come in and get the papers to take to Gaara. You're annoying me with your melodramatic romanticism."

He raised an eyebrow. "'Melodramatic romanticism'?" he asked, walking past her into her office, picking up the file off the table. Feeling too lazy and not wanting too much to chance running into Shizune, he kept going, popping open the window of Tsunade's office. "Been reading fictional books lately instead of mission scrolls, O Great Hokage-sama?"

"Shut it, Shiranui. Think about what I said, for the good of us all. And do me a favor; don't make Gaara think you're as much of an ass as you are. Well, actually, what I'm trying to tell you is don't be yourself, because you're a bigger ass than Kakashi is, and Kakashi is the definition of an ass. Your aim is to make him _like _you and _trust _you." Genma raised an eyebrow, lazily swishing the senbon around in his mouth, and she sighed, walking back over to her desk. "Okay, _like_ is a little bit of a stretch, but just make sure he knows that you're a semi-decent human being who cares for Shizuka. That's pretty much all Gaara wants to see, I think."

Genma sighed, resisting the urge to bite his fingernails, like he did before he began to put toothpicks and senbon needles into his mouth. He would admit, he had a deep and nearly troubling oral fixation, one that only got worse with stress and aggravation (which the job entailed). To deal with his stress, he got a little bit sarcastic sometimes, and he began to make crude jokes that tended to make people uncomfortable. He could understand why she thought he could come off as an asshole because of it, but he didn't see a reason why he should hide it. He tended to not hide his feelings and opinions about things, so why should he start now just because he was going to talk to the Kazekage? Why should he have to lie when the point of the meeting was to be honest?

Genma shrugged his shoulders carelessly, both answering his Hokage and his own thoughts as he slipped out of the open window, ignoring Tsunade's complaints about Jōnin and the fact that not a single one of them used the door (which was completely and totally true, but none of them would admit as much aloud), jumping off the awning and landing nimbly on his feet on the next building, not wasting time as he broke into a run. It wouldn't take him long to reach the Nara compound, even if he walked, but he didn't like the idea of showing up late to things. In fact, he hated it.

It was a habit he had somehow managed to pick up when Shizuka was still a baby, and Hayate had somehow been able to magically finagle him into aiding his attempts to properly raise a non-fucked up kid. There had been so many misunderstandings around the village when people saw them together with the infant that most people just thought that Genma was just shy about his sexuality, still. They just couldn't get it into people's mind that the two of them were perfectly straight men that happened to be close friends, raising an infant together. Of course, Genma saw why the misunderstanding was present—they were two males raising a baby together for Chrissakes; he would've taken it wrong too, but it still irritated him.

Taking care of Shizuka wasn't the _easiest_ experience ever. He wasn't loud and annoying, like children normally were, but he still required attention from the people who took care of him, because he did live in a home filled to the brim with dangerous weapons. Raising a kid without screwing him up was harder than assassination missions, actually. There had been a lot of fuck-ups on both their parts, but Shizuka seemed to come out alright in the end, even though he'd been left alone for a long time after Hayate's death.

It was a fact he still couldn't get out of his head. He felt so guilty for ever having thought it was a good idea to leave Shizuka alone, to think that seeing him was hard. It had been, for a long time, but it was cruel and unfair to him. Shizuka was a child. He'd just lost his brother not to the chronic sickness caused by a major chakra imbalance in his body, but in a murder. But then he was also ditched by the only living 'family' he had left, leaving Shizuka with literally no one to turn to.

He was already a pretty lonely kid; he just fortified his solitude. Yeah, sure, Genma had lost his best friend. But to Shizuka, not only had he lost Hayate, who was in a lot of ways his best friend, his older brother, and a father all rolled into one; but he'd lost a woman who became like an older sister and a mother, and he'd lost someone who was like his second brother, and his second father. He lost the only family had

The fact that Shizuka didn't hate him and had actually found it in him to forgive him for it still boggled his mind. The fact that Shizuka was willing to move in with him, willing to let someone who had seemingly so easily ditched him back into his life; was an amazing feat in Genma's eyes, and it was a blessing he wouldn't let go to waste. He was going to do everything in his power to let that kid know that he was important in his life. He was going to help him with anything he could.

So he wasn't going to talk to Gaara for the sake of Tsunade, nor was he going because Gaara wanted to speak to him. He was going because he was someone important in Shizuka's life.

"Ah, Genma," said Nara Shikamaru, slightly surprised. His son, the bouncy toddler he was, kept running from his father, giggling his head off. The kid was almost a carbon copy of Shikamaru, with the small ponytail holding back his overlong hair and lazy-seeming eyes, except his eyes were blue and his hair was a dark brown with hints of blond and he was obviously not a lazy child, most seen as he forced his father to run after him. Genma picked the kid up, which the boy seemed to realize but just didn't care, still giggling. "And you caught him. Thank the fucking gods."

Genma raised an eyebrow, but the toddler seemed ignorant to his cursing, merely holding out his small arms for his father. Genma handed him off to Shikamaru with minimal effort, not truly realizing how much of what he'd learned to do during Shizuka's early childhood he'd managed to somehow retain.

"Where's Gaara?"

"Living room. He told me you were on your way. He kicked me out of my own damned living room, troublesome bastard."

The boy stopped giggling and turned his face to his father. "Can I's spend more time with Gaa-Oji, Otō?" he asked; his eyes wide, his plump bottom lip pushing out in order to better his case. Genma figured that some people might've found that action cute. But he was Genma. Kids were not really his thing. Shizuka was the only one he'd tolerated, the only one he liked.

"You just spent time with Gaa-Oji, Soyo, and you need to go to sleep, or your dear Okā will kill me for letting you stay up so long, troublesome woman," muttered Shikamaru, shaking his head as he began to walk down the hall, his son merely nodding and putting his head on his father's shoulder. His laziness now showed clearly to Genma—he was too lazy to fight, apparently. Shikamaru looked over his shoulder at Genma. "Just walk down the hall. It's the biggest room, with the sliding door that has something like black waves as a design."

Genma nodded. "Thanks."

The former ANBU-agent-turned-father waved him off. "Yare, yare."

* * *

There were many things Genma could've expected from Gaara. He could've expected him to be waiting behind the door, his sand ready to wrap around his body and kill him. He could've been sitting there, getting more and more impatient about the amount of time it was taking for Genma to arrive. The problem with all of Genma's assumptions was that they were all negative assumptions about the type of person Gaara was, all of them based on judgments he'd made when Gaara was still twelve years old and still a murderous son-of-a-bitch. He knew that he shouldn't make assumptions—assumptions only lead to surprise when proven wrong, which they mostly always were—but he was only human. Admittedly; slightly more than human, but human nonetheless. It was only human nature to make an assumption about a person.

He hated when he did that, because he hated being surprised and he more disliked figuring out why he was wrong.

Well, in this case, he could figure that he was partially right. Gaara was sitting there, waiting for him, but certainly not impatient; nor was he angry or bored. In fact, one could say that Gaara was the most pleased man out of the two of them right now, because he was busy locking lips with some brunette that Genma had seen over half a million times with him. He didn't remember her name, nor did he really want to. Honestly, it wasn't his business. All he could think was that if he hadn't fucked up so badly, he'd be able to do almost the exact same thing with Shizune.

The thought of her was throwing him off-kilter.

He cleared his throat, drawing the attention of both of them. The girl had the decency to blush, while Gaara glared at him, probably pissed he'd interrupted their session before he seemed to vaguely recognize him. Gaara's look evened out, and he withdrew his arm from around her, turning his face to her and giving absolutely no emotion. "Matsuri, I have to talk to Genma-san."

She flicked a glance back at said Jōnin. "He's the one who Shizu is moving in with?" she asked, raising an eyebrow incredulously. "He wasn't what I pictured when Shizu described him."

_Shizuka described me? _Genma wondered, raising one eyebrow as she shook her head, giving a peck on the lips to Gaara as she left the room. His jade eyes followed her movements, basically ignoring Genma as he sat down on the couch across from him, laying the folder down on the table in between the two of them and settling into the comfortable sofa, draping his arms across the back. He knew he was sitting in what could be a disrespectful position, considering he was in front of a Kage, but the problem was… he truly didn't give a shit.

When he was younger, he did, but Genma had been the bodyguard for _four _Hokages in his time (though, he sometimes wished Danzō didn't count as part as that statistic), and he'd been in front of too many different Kages for him to keep worrying about being polite. If he wasn't polite to his own Kage, he saw no reason to be polite to someone else's, especially since the point of Gaara's wanting to meet him was that he wanted to see who he was leaving his student with. If he pretended, then odds were that Gaara wouldn't trust him. Though, he also knew there was a chance he might not trust him anyways, but he figured since it was a seemingly lose-lose situation, there was no point on bullshitting.

As soon as Matsuri pulled the door closed behind herself, Gaara turned his attention to Genma, just giving him a look with those eerie black-shadowed jade eyes that seemed to look through him better than a Byakugan. His gourd, which was sitting in the corner of the living room, popped open on what had to be Gaara's command, sand pouring out and drifting slowly over to the coffee table, picking up the folder Genma had placed down and bringing it over to Gaara, dropping it in his hand.

Genma raised an eyebrow. "Wow. That has got to be the _laziest fucking thing_ I've ever seen in my entire life."

Nothing about Gaara's face or body indicated his surprise, but the stunted exhale and the brief flicker of confusion in his green depths were enough of a sign for him. He knew exactly how people normally talked to Kages; but he wasn't normal, and he didn't talk to Kages like everyone else. He treated them as if they were normal shinobi, nothing more, and nothing less, because in the end, that was exactly what they would be. This sort of approach towards his higher-ups should've resulted in the loss of his life, but oddly enough, the Kages found this refreshing. He didn't kiss ass, and he didn't pretend or speak around what he wanted to say. His blunt honesty and proficiency for sarcasm was what made people like him—even if they thought he was the definition of an asshole. Gaara's face cracked slightly as he gave a half-smirk.

"You sound like my brother," he noted, flipping open the folder.

He nodded. "Your brother is a smart man. He doesn't lead you on in the least, does he? He reminds you of what you are when you need it."

Gaara flicked a glance up. "And what am I?"

Genma shrugged and responded, "You're a human, nothing more or less. Despite how many people look up to you and think you're God, the fact remains that you are still the same flesh-and-blood as us; with the same pathetic mortality that we have, even if you have an advantage in the world of the shinobi with your sand. At the end of the day, you're not the Kazekage. The Kazekage is a title. What you are is Gaara, plain and simple. At the end of the day, all these titles and acclamations mean shit. At the end of the day, you're like everyone else."

Gaara hummed. "If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you were a long-lost brother of mines. You sound exactly like Kankurō. No wonder Shizuka enjoyed speaking with him; he speaks like you do. Candidly, fast, and uncaring of the consequences and ramifications of the words he speaks. Dangerous way to approach things, but I find it quite amusing."

"I prefer to let the people I meet know that the sun does not, in fact, shine out of their ass. I think it keeps them human, and human is good." He shrugged again. "I tried to get the same thing through to Shizuka, though he is much more polite about it than I am."

"It depends on his mood. Sometimes, he can be very blunt with what he wants to say," said Gaara, and Genma nodded in agreement. It was not a lie. The kid could be very rude if he wanted to be. "You say you tried to get Shizuka to do the same thing. That implies that you've known each other for a long time… how long?"

"I've known him since he was a baby. I'm sure you already know, but his parents died, and his brother took him in. Hayate begged me to help him, and I agreed, after much refusal; I will admit." Genma leaned forwards, placing his elbows on his knees, becoming more serious. "I'll be blunt again, Kazekage-sama. I have done asinine things that Shizuka has been at the brunt of. For four years, I left him completely and totally alone because it was painful to see him. I can never make up for that time, unless suddenly time-travel is a possibility. It's a wonder Shizuka didn't come out incredibly fucked because of it, or at least an inability to trust people. He came out alright. I'm not saying I'm justified, or that I'm not a bad person because of these things, but what I am is a person who genuinely cares about him, and wishes to make up for it in all the ways I can."

Gaara leaned forwards as well, no longer trying to read the file. "How can I be sure of that, Genma-san? Shizuka is someone I've come to care about. He's become a very valuable asset to Sunagakure, and beyond that, my family has actually come to see him as one of us. We all care about his wellbeing, and the last thing any of us want to see is his pain. He may put on a brave face, but like you said, at the end of the day he is human. Being hurt is a part of being human, and you have caused him pain, though he seems to have forgiven you for it. And while all he does is talk highly of you, when you are brought up, I can't help but wonder what it would do to him if you let him alone a second time."

"I refuse to."

"Again; how can I be sure of that? It's like me saying I will never kill again; I will be honest with that. It's a fantasy, not a truth."

"True, but…" he sighed. "You're right. You can't be absolutely sure of that. I recognize I've hurt him, and I recognize that you believe that if it was so easy for me to do the first time; there is nothing to stop me from doing it a second time. It's, sadly, a reasonable response in someone. But… I won't do it again. I don't have it in me.

"Shizuka used to see me as a father-type figure. I was older than his brother, so it made sense he would think of me that way. After Hayate's death, he asked me what he could do, how he could make the pain go away. And when he looked at me, I can swear that I saw Hayate. All I saw was my dead best friend, and then I thought it would be painful—so painful—to watch Shizuka grow up and become exactly like my best friend, and end up like him. So I ditched him, because I was scared of the pain I felt just seeing my best friend in the nuances of Shizuka's nature.

"I can't explain it in full detail, but… I think it will suffice to say that it hurt. It hurt, watching him from afar. It hurt to know what I'd done with my best friend's memory; I'd thrown it away and tried to pretend it had never happened. I threw away the legacy of Hayate, and I also threw away my own little brother… because I was just scared and I was in mourning. I didn't expect to get a second chance with him, but when I did… my chest… it warmed up. I didn't realize how cold my chest had felt until he gave me that second chance. For the first time in years, I felt like myself, and I finally accepted that Hayate was gone." Genma looked down, sighing. "Shizuka is my little brother. It doesn't matter if he's not my flesh-and-blood; he's my brother through-and-through. Shizuka is one of very few people I would accept death for, in order to save his life."

"You would die for him?" Gaara asked, a curious tone in his voice.

"Most definitely," he responded without hesitation, looking Gaara straight in the eye, a confident feeling overtaking his entire body. For the moment, some of his irritation from thinking about Shizune so much was gone, just thinking about Shizuka, the boy he'd raised, the boy he came to love more than his real family. "_He's_ my real family."

* * *

_**Happy birthday, Sasuke! And happy belated, Kiba!  
**_

_**Lol. That's kind of why I procrastinated with the upload. I wanted to wait until Sasuke's birthday to upload it :) **_

_**Thank you to the sailorangelmoon1 for the review! Glad to know that the dark stuff that's going to come will be received happily! **_

_**People should go check out 'The Ripple Effect'... just sayin'. It's a much slower update than this story (because I write it when I'm taking breaks with this) but I'd like to see what people think of it... it's different for me! lol. **_

_**Hmm, that should be it... I don't have much else to say other than... I hope you enjoyed the chappie! **_


	9. Chapter 8: Unbearable

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**_

* * *

_UNBEARABLE _

_/__ˌə__n__ˈ__be(__ə__)r__ə__b__ə__l/_

_inability to tolerate anything considered to be unsavory or distasteful; not to be endured or tolerated; insufferable_

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke could be called a variety of things. He could be called a traitor. He could be called greedy. He could be called an asshole. He could even be called a murderer. They could say these things, because honestly; they were true. Yes, he had betrayed Konoha in his youth. He'd defected with no more reason than the need for power. He wanted what he wanted when he wanted it, and he would make sure he got what he wanted and he didn't really care who had to go through to get it.

He could understand why that would make him an asshole in some peoples' opinions. People didn't really like people who didn't care about what they had to do to get to what they wanted. And, yes, he has killed someone that wasn't a negative target to Konoha. Danzō deserved to die, but he knew that while Tsunade had justified his actions, he has still murdered a public figure that some people in Konoha did trust and care about. They might not know the truth but in the end, it didn't matter. He murdered him. That was what remained.

Uchiha Sasuke could be called a variety of things, but he could never be called someone who enjoys watching people suffer. That was something he didn't have in him to be able to do. He, himself, had suffered with pain for a long time, and he didn't want to see someone suffer like he did, ever. It was cruel, and it was sometimes heart-wrenching to see someone in pain like he had been in. It was hard to think that he had to go through it himself. And it was harder to think that someone in his family was going through it now.

It didn't matter that they weren't close, like normal family members were. What mattered were the facts: they were family. He was his family. He was his cousin, and he cared about him in the only way a family member could. He wasn't just going to sit there an allow him, for even a second more than he was already, to suffer. He wasn't that type of cruel, and he never could be. He had tried, with Itachi, but in the end all it head led to was the utmost guilt about what he'd done. He wasn't going to allow that guilt to conquer him again, and he wasn't going to watch this boy writhe in pain.

He didn't know before this moment that he could take charge in a medical situation, but it was natural reaction. He rolled up the sleeves of the black long-sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back he'd taken to wearing a couple of years ago, a look of confidence and authority crossing his eyes as he looked down at the boy laying down on the mat in front of him.

"Naruto, how long has he been in pain?" he asked his blonde-haired best friend. Usually, he would've greeted him with some sort of rude term of endearment that was the norm between the two, especially after the four years in which they hadn't seen each other. However, he was watching a young boy sob in pain, watching him try to hold back all of his screams. It wasn't working, and Sasuke could understand why. The poor bastard had _two _curse marks on him.

Yes, temporary and removable curse marks, but they were curse marks that was only intended to cause him pain and to take his chakra.

"We rushed here. We got held back a day because we had to cross over a lake in our 'shortcut'"—he glared over at Jiraiya—"But it took us a grand total of three days to get here. He's been in pain for about three days, and it's increased every moment he goes without sleep." Obito yelped in pain, sweat practically pouring down his face as he bit his lip, drawing blood.

"Okay," Sasuke said, nodding and turning to his mother, who was trying to wipe the sweat off of Obito's face. "Okaasan, I need you to get me some of the Uchiha brew. I also need some ice and some towels for him." She nodded, completely serious and not daring to argue with her son. He pressed his hand to Obito's overheated forehead. "Lots of ice," he murmured, pulling his hand back. Obito was beyond the point of a high fever and by the flushed look on his face and the dark bags underneath his eyelids, he could tell that he'd been in this condition for a while. "How long has been like this?"

"He didn't look that much better this morning," said Jiraiya with a sigh, pushing Obito's overlong locks off of his forehead. "He wasn't in this much pain, and he's probably gone up a couple of degrees." Mikoto came back, armed with every material Sasuke had asked for. He nodded at her, immediately taking the bottle of brew and pouring some into its cap.

"I need you to sit him up, and to keep him still," ordered Sasuke. Jiraiya didn't like being bossed around by somebody that much younger than him, but then again he'd come to Sasuke because he knew what he was doing. So he did as he was told, carefully pushing his arm underneath Obito's body and holding him up by the shoulder. Sasuke crouched down, coming close to Obito. The boy opened one bleary dark eye, no sign of recognition of his surroundings in its depths. "I know you might not know what's going on, but I need you to open your mouth and drink, Obito."

Obito didn't respond with a vocal response, but he opened his mouth nonetheless, showing his understanding of what Sasuke had told him. Sasuke poured the cap's contents down his throat and gently, but firmly, closed Obito's mouth, tilting his head back so he wouldn't try to spit anything out. His face contorted with pain and discomfort, probably from the burn the drink was giving him, and Sasuke knew that the brew didn't taste that good, either. It was just that the brew, made with chakra, made inebriation possible in its drinkers with no more than a few sips. The buzz this would make would keep him from fidgeting as Sasuke got rid of the marks.

"Jiraiya, Naruto; hold down his arms and legs. His motor function is low right now, but not impossible. He will try to fight, but the drink will just make it easier on you." He waited impatiently as the two shinobi got into their own respective positions, tapping his fingers against his kneecaps. When they finally got ready, Sasuke focused his chakra, releasing a small amount of which was in his own permanent curse mark, his skin becoming brown-gray. He pressed his darker hands against Obito's stomach, directly over the mark, and pushed his almost sinister chakra into it.

"The only way to get rid of this seal is with the chakra that comes from my own seal. His seal sees mine as a fellow, in a sort of way, and it thinks that my purpose is the same as it is."

"So, basically, you're fooling it into thinking you're taking over its job," said Jiraiya as Obito's arm attempted to jerk against its restraints.

"Basically," he agreed as he pulled away, watching the tomes of the seal disappear on its own as he moved onto the next one. "Okaasan, please apply ice to that area. No doubt that it's painful for him there."

Naruto watched his friend, intrigued by the authority Sasuke was taking over this situation. Sasuke was practically like a surgeon, knowing exactly what he was doing and vocalizing what he wanted done well. Sasuke had confidence when he was fighting, but now he was showing more confidence than any other time he'd ever seen him. This was Sasuke's element. Not just healing someone, but helping someone in general. Sasuke was born to help people, Naruto could see it plainly.

Naruto could see Sasuke becoming a great clan head someday—and, maybe, someday he'd become a great Kage too.

* * *

There was something ethereally beautiful about Hanabi when she used the Gentle Fist. She was nothing but absolute grace, from the way her muscles moved in a single fluent motion, as if she was speaking a whole other form of body language, or as if she was dancing an alien dance. It couldn't be easily described, but it was a wondrous thing to see Hanabi using the Gentle Fist. It was possibly the one thing she loved more than causing trouble—and she loved to cause trouble.

Turning on the ball of her feet, raising one leg up as she spun, her left arm extended fully and her right bent above her head; she leaped up off of the ground, quickly pushing her right arm towards his chest. He pulled the sword out of its sheathe, placing one hand on its flat surface as he used it to defend himself, not at all intending to slice her with the blade. He could almost see her chakra coursing through the sword when her hand struck its flat surface. She leapt back, landing on both of her feet, one palm held up, flat and flowing with powerful chakra, a wide smile on her face.

"Having fun?" Shizuka asked, tightening his grip on the handle of his katana, a smile on his face.

"Loads," she responded.

"Are you going easy on me right now?"

She shrugged. "Maybe…"

"So don't. Let's not hold back." The two teenagers grinned at each other. Hanabi slipped out of her Gentle Fist stance, turning her body more so her left shoulder was head-on with Shizuka. He could almost see the veins in her temple become more and more pronounced, and her smile slipped off of her face. She was taking this completely seriously now, he could tell—so now he had to do the same, renewing his grip on his katana.

She pushed off her left foot, pulling out a kunai as she whirled around, slicing downwards with her knife. Shizuka brought up his sword, pushing the kunai off with it and aiming to hit her with his free hand. He aimed for her cheek, but she brought up her own free hand, grabbing his hand and pushing it away roughly, a smile on her face as she brought up her knee, managing to brush against his abdominal area before he jumped back, slicing upwards with his blade.

He wasted no time in lunging forwards again, giving the blade the smallest bit of chakra and swiping the air, utilizing the Wind Release technique he had been taught in Sunagakure; a not-so-gentle gust of air meant to throw her off of her feet. She winced in pain, yelping as she brought up her arms, taking the strong gust of wind that seemed to cut into her arms—which, on closer inspection, it truly did. He lunged at her while she was otherwise detained; leaping up into the air and attempting to do a sweeping kick to her in the shoulder. She turned around just in time, using her arms to stop his kick in motion. Gritting his teeth as he fell back to the ground, he brought his fist to hit her. She jumped back, his fist only barely brushing against her arm.

"You're seeing my attacks before I follow through," Shizuka realized, a smile growing on his face.

"How did you know?" she responded, a smile of her own developing.

"Just an educated guess. Let me make another one—you're analyzing my muscle groups in order to tell how I'll strike out."

She shrugged, "First one to get that one right. Sasuke taught me," she admitted with a full-on grin, wiping at her forehead. "Are we still sparring?"

"Hmm? Ah…" He looked past her, frowning as he noticed someone coming up to them. "No. Someone's coming. Looks like… it looks like Shikamaru." Hanabi smiled and shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck as she turned around to face the approaching Nara heir, who had his young son on his shoulders. She crossed her arms over her chest, patiently waiting for the lazy shinobi to come close.

"Hey, Hanabi; Shizuka," he said with a yawn and semi-politeness as Soyokaze pulled at his hair, which he seemed to not even notice—Shizuka could only figure that he was used to the toddler doing that to him—as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, no time for real pleasantries, but we need to get going. The both of you need to come with me."

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

He could've explained. He could've used the bounty of rich language he must've had at his disposal. He could've given an enriched reason as to why. He could've even wasted all of their time explaining. However, that wasn't who he was. Shikamaru didn't explain things in detail. He was far too lazy for that, and far too intelligent to have to. His bounty of rich language allowed him to get to his point without wasting his breath and time on words, and so he used this to his advantage with a few well-chosen words:

"Obito's hurt."

* * *

Most people would call Nara Yoshino a woman of short temperament. She tolerated no disrespect towards herself, not from her family and not from any passing person in the street. She was a woman to be feared by the many she came across, especially by her own husband. She was feared, yet, she was also adored by these people, especially her own husband, mostly because she was fierce in everything, not just anger. She was fierce with her kindness. And she was fierce with her love—so fierce. Anything that took a piece of her heart was something that got the full of her attention when it needed it, as well as all of her love as well. Shikaku was proud of himself for finding such a woman to marry, to fall in love with, and he was more than happy watching her at work on the person they both cared about.

The look on her face as she wiped off the sweat on Obito's forehead was one of a mothers' watching her own child, taking care of her young nephew with Mikoto. Both women had been making sure that his sickness didn't grow anymore than it had from the moment Sasuke had allowed himself to stop tending to him. Yoshino's smile was small as she tended to Obito—it was one that displayed how much she enjoyed taking care of someone again. It had been such a long time since she'd had to care for someone who needed caring for, and she was reveling in the moment.

Obito slept as easily as he could, still feeling the residual pain from the seals, as well as the alcohol's effects. He looked flushed and sickly, and Shikaku knew that he had been lucky that this was all he'd gotten—those seals were intended to take his chakra and kill him, but it hadn't. Sickly, yes; but the fact remained that he was alive, and Shikaku was definitely thankful for it. He'd become like a son to him, and the time he'd spent away had not changed that fact.

Of course, he was a son he'd have to share with Obito's actual father, but it wasn't a big deal—Shisui is not someone he hated. Shisui was a person he was proud to know, and he knew that it wasn't possible for Obito to have a better father. It was the mother he had a problem with, a now nonexistent problem. Obito was going to grow up well now, that was for sure; he'd become a fine shinobi. Especially with the mentors he had—though, he didn't quite appreciate Naruto's retelling of his nephew-in-law's developed perverseness due to extended contact with Jiraiya—and the friends and comrades he had made. Obito would come out alright. Perverted, but alright.

"I can't help but wonder if this is my fault again," Shisui admitted with a sigh, speaking to Shikaku for the first time in hours. Shikaku turned to him, fixing his position in the doorway in order to look at him. "I can't help but think that if I hadn't faked my death, I could've stopped a lot of these things from happening to him."

"Well, if you didn't, the entire Uchiha clan would've been dead, and he would be nowhere near as strong as he is," said Shikaku bluntly. "Besides, our sons are shinobi. Shinobi grow the most by figuring out what to do on their own. And he is too similar to you to allow you to live it down if you hadn't put Konoha first. He would've hated you as much as you would've hated yourself. You would've lost your family, your comrades, and the love of your own son. This way, all you lost was your eyes and your son's mother. Your son still loves you, your family's still alive, and your comrades still trust you. Think about it that way."

"Amai would be alive," Shisui sighed sadly. "The fact remains that my choice lost my son his mother. It lost my wife her sanity. It lost my son his confidence. It made people distrust him, for reasons he's not allowed to simply give out. And now he's being targeted."

"You were targeted yourself. You two are Uchiha. His last name may be Nara, but everyone who matters to your son knows where he truly rears from. He is your son, and he wouldn't change anything in his life if he got that choice, if it would give him security. Obito is not that weak to pussy his way out of a tough situation. He'll take care of it in the way he was taught to—taking it head on and praying endlessly that the end will justify the means. That's what his father did, and he is like his father."

Shisui raised his eyebrow at him. "And you're proud of him for being like me?" he asked incredulously.

Shikaku smirked and said, "Yes. It means that I did my job right." Shisui chuckled, turning his face away and leaning against the doorway, watching the two women care for the boy. "I wonder if most kids who have two father-figures in their lives feel sometimes crushed by the attention that they both give them."

Shisui scoffed. "Probably, but this is Obito. He's so self-depreciating that he doesn't even really realize that he even has two men who consider him, in equal amounts and in their own ways, to be their son. Hell, I know he doesn't. He doesn't even realize that the girl he's in love with is in love with him too." He smiled and rubbed his nose. "I just hope to God that he doesn't do something stupid and knock her up. It's not that he wouldn't be a good father someday, but I'm not ready to be someone's grandfather. I am positive that Hyūga Hiashi, who is closer to a grandfather's age than I am by a long shot, is nowhere near ready to be a grandfather. He'll cut off Obito's dick before he rolls over and allows his fifteen-year-old daughter to give birth."

Shikaku chuckled. "I can't say I blame him. Your parents didn't take it quite well, if I remember correctly. They adored Obito, but they were cursing you for the entire pregnancy. And when Shikamaru told me he knocked up Temari… I can't honestly tell you exactly what I did, because I blacked out, but I woke up to find that I'd broken my knuckles and hands beating the shit out of Shikamaru. We were in the hospital for a week."

"I'm pretty sure I'd be a hypocrite if I beat Obito for a teenaged pregnancy," sighed Shisui.

Shikaku rolled his eyes. "Hypocritical or not, if you need to do it, you make sure to do it. Just don't kill him. Killing's illegal. I know that if he does knock her up, I'll hold him down when Hiashi picks up the knife to cut his dick with. I'm already somebody's grandfather; I'm not becoming a great-uncle before I actually reach my sixties."

* * *

Humming.

There was humming.

It was a beautiful sound, the humming. It was so sweet, and so simple that the musician within him could've wept for joy upon hearing it. There were only a couple of notes to it, but that was what was so amazing about it. Its purpose was to soothe, and it did just that with its few notes. Without thinking, his arm stretched out, grabbing the hand he felt on his cheek, and quickly pulling on the arm it was attached to it, pulling them down with a squeal, abruptly cutting off the song. He sighed, wrapping his arms around the person's lithe body and pressing his cheek against their warm neck.

"O… Obi…to…?"

The voice sounded as if it should be vaguely familiar, but Obito was too tired to even think about identifying it. No, that wasn't what he wanted to do, anyways—what he wanted was to hear this voice again. That was what he really wanted. "Hum for me," he mumbled against their warm skin, making them shiver. Why did that happen? Were they cold? They didn't feel that way… "Hum that song for me."

"W-What?" the person asked him.

"I want you to hum that song for me. It's soothing." He unintentionally nuzzled their neck, extracting what he identified, in the back of his mind, to be a moan from them. "Please."

"Ah…" they whispered as he pressed his cooler cheek against their collarbone, his body moving on top of theirs to press them into the mattress. _Breasts,_ he identified in the back of his head before shrugging his shoulders. They were fine breasts, nice and big with some definite shape to them, from what he could identify; but he wanted the humming to come back. The body didn't matter much, for once. It should've been a hint and a half for him, but he wasn't thinking about it. He just wanted to hear that hum—that oh-so-beautiful hum that had him so captivated. "O-Okay. I'll hum for you."

He sighed in relief, and gave her under him a gentle squeeze, making her flinch before she did her best to relax herself under his grip. Hesitantly, she began to hum again, soothing Obito. He sighed happily, tightening his grip on the girl who he had forced underneath him. Usually, he wouldn't allow himself to get too close to any girl, but this one felt safe. She felt like… well, home. There was no other way to put it. From the sound of her sweet, sweet melodious voice to the simple and comforting way she fit into his arms, he felt absolutely safe, safer than he had in many years, just holding this girl against him and listening to her hum into his ear like this, so soothingly…

"You're not gonna try and kill me, are you?" he murmured, knowing he would be interrupting her humming by speaking to her, but he wanted to figure out who he was touching like this.

"No." She sounded incredulous. "I… Why would I?"

"Because I usually don't let women touch me, and the last time I didn't put up enough of a fight, they tried to kill me. That's why I'm here." Maybe he should open his eyes. Maybe he should look at this girl he was entrapping underneath his body weight. Or… maybe he should just soak up the moment. Yeah. Soak up the moment.

"I would never try to kill you, Obi-kun."

Obito never knew how eight words could, so totally easily spoken, and with such a little usage of eloquent language; completely and totally snap him out of his daze and also making him jump off the bed as if had literally turned into fire, eyes wide at the smaller figure on the bed as he slammed himself against the wall. "Ah… ah," he said, trying to catch his breath. "Ah… I…"

Hanabi's familiar pale lilac eyes showed her worry for him. God, she'd developed into an even prettier thing, hadn't she? It was absolutely crazy, how she had developed. He couldn't have hoped for her to become more perfect, yet… she had. Her body was just so fucking _amazing_. Her breasts were firm, she was curvy, and warm and perfect and sweet and, oh God… did he feel like an ass! Laying all over her like that, forcing her to hum to him, what kind of asshole was he?! He could almost feel every ounce of embarrassment. He just… _laid all over her!_ "What's wrong? Weren't you just using me as a human bed?" she smiled at him reassuringly but it only made things worse.

His blush kicked up instantly. "Ah… shit! I'm… ah, I'm sorry. Oh God, I'm so sorry." _I didn't even say hi to her! Four years I've been away, and the first thing I do is lay all over her and fucking feel her up! _The moment, in his opinion, just couldn't get any less awkward, and he wished that he could just stab himself in the stomach with a kunai. Repeatedly.

And, speaking of his stomach … he also wasn't wearing a shirt.

_Just. Fucking. Brilliant. _

And, thankfully, his stomach had found a way out of this situation.

He clamped a hand down on top of his mouth, bile crawling quickly up his throat, his eyes getting even wider as he located the closest trash can, diving for it and emptying the contents of his stomach into it. He was sure that he seemed pathetic to her, violently vomiting. Truth be told he knew was still sick, and it was only to be expected, but still… there was nothing more unattractive than someone puking, and especially when in front of Hanabi he wanted to be attractive to her.

"Obito-kun, you need to lie back down," Hanabi said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and squeezing lightly. He wanted to say, _Not after how much of an asshole I just made myself out to be, _but all he could do was nod in slight agreement, allowing Hanabi to gently stand him upright, moving him back to gently lay him down on the bed once more. Truth be told, every part of him ached at that moment, and he knew he would be better off lying down. "I'm gonna go get Shizuka."

_Oh, shit_. "He's here, too?" he managed to whisper. Kill him. Just kill him. Knowing Shizuka, he would have been there the entire time, behind that door, laughing at the predicament he had managed to get himself into in the few short moments he fully conscious. He knew how much his best friend _sucked_ like that. He wouldn't put it past him.

This was not his week. Not at all.

* * *

"So, teme, tell me," said Naruto, picking up his bottle of beer, "Have you and Kiba fucked yet?"

Sasuke, who had been taking a drink himself, choked—a reasonable reaction, given what he was just asked by his best friend. Naruto's eyes looked on with concern and confusion, not understanding why Sasuke was reacting in such an away to the question. Had he said something wrong? He'd only asked if they'd slept together!

"What's wrong?"

Sasuke wiped his mouth, eyes wide and looking around the bar nervously, a blush creeping up his face from his neck. "What the fuck?" he gasped out, mortified. "Why would you ask a question like that, asshole? Why is the first thing you say to me when you've only just come back to Konoha is asking me if I fucked dog-boy? What the hell?"

Naruto frowned. "What? You said yourself that you were interested dog-boy. That you _looooove him_." Sasuke glared at him for drawing out the word 'love' like that, and he had to force himself not to reach over the table and throttle his friend for that. "So, have you gotten anywhere with him, teme? Have you guys gotten together in any way? Didja screw?"

"_Kiba_ and I haven't done anything," Sasuke admitted, still glaring. Why couldn't he have a _normal_ best friend? Why did he have to get one who always had his foot in his mouth and never realized it? Why did he have to get an obnoxious one who, after a four-year-long intermission, chose the topic of his sex life (or lack thereof) as a beginning topic of conversation? While Sasuke would admit, it did get rid of any awkward type of conversation quite easily; he just wasn't ready for it. He only really talked about his horrid love-life with Itachi, and sometimes even Suigetsu, Kakashi, or Hinata (depending on whp was near and how drunk he happened to be was at the time). This kind of question was out of the blue, and he wasn't drunk enough for it.

"What do ya mean, you guys haven't done anything?" Naruto asked eyes wide, "You're Uchiha-fucking-Sasuke; you're supposed to be on this shit! You're supposed to fucking _gush _confidence and be able to charm Kiba outta his pants and into _yours_, dattebayo!" Sasuke's blush grew more, and he covered it up with another gulp of sake. _Naruto is an evil fucking fox midget. _

"I think it's scary that none of the people I told about my sexuality questioned it in the least," he admitted, knowingly getting off topic, "You all seemed to _know_ I was gay. You all talk to me about it too well."

Naruto shrugged. "I kinda figured it out when we kissed. The first time around. You just… you denied it way too hard. And I'm pretty sure there was tongue in it." He took a swig of his drink, watching Sasuke sigh. "Anyways, stop trying to switch subjects! You and Kiba have gotta get together, 'cause this is _just sad_, dattebayo!"

Sasuke's upper eyelid twitched. "What's _just sad_, dobe?"

"You've got the hots for him, and it's really obvious," said Naruto simply. "Way too obvious. You blushed when I mentioned him getting into your pants—by the way I didn't know you would bottom. Never figured you for that guy. But I guess somebody's gotta, and even with that damned Uchiha pride, you are a little bit more feminine than Kiba…" Sasuke picked up his fork and threw it at Naruto, who managed to react in time in order to avoid the fork hitting him in the forehead. "What the fuck, Sasuke!? What're you tryin' to do to me, dattebayo?!" he barked, the people of Konoha so used to his loud mouth that he didn't draw any attention, thankfully.

"I'm not the uke, you fucking moron," growled Sasuke, leaning back in the booth and crossing his arms over his chest, "And I'm also masculine."

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Ah, sorry."

Sasuke sighed, his anger dissipating. "Anyways, Naruto, the situation is more complicated than you'd like to believe. As much as I'd like to be able to… get Kiba _into my pants_"—he blushed again at that—"there's one fact about him that makes everything really hard on me, and it's the fact that he wouldn't touch me with a fifteen-foot-fucking-pole. He hates me, and I'm pretty sure he's disgusted by the idea of touching me. He's only civil to me when he's told to be. Any other time, he makes his hatred known. And then _I _fuck up by showing animosity back, even though I hate talking to him like that."

"So don't talk to him like that. Be nice to him."

"I want to, but every time he's rude to me, I can't help it. It's a natural reaction to be rude to the people who can hurt me the most."

"Oh, so that's why you're mean to me."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah. I used to be nicer, but that went down shit creek when Itachi killed the clan. I mean, I've forgiven him since then. I know it wasn't his fault. But it was the first major betrayal I've ever gotten, and I can't find it in me to be nice to anyone _all the time_, even when I care about them. Especially not Kiba—he hurts me more than Itachi ever could."

Naruto eyed him seriously. "You truly love him, don't you, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha heir sighed, equally serious. "Yeah. I do. Sadly."

Naruto blinked. "'Sadly'? Why 'sadly'?"

He smiled softly and touched his fingertips to his chest. "Whenever I see him with one of those whores he picks up, it hurts like no other wound I've ever gotten. I want it to be me he's hugging, me he's touching, me he's kissing, and I want it to be me he's fucking. Every damn time I see him with one of them, it's like one of Orochimaru's snakes are coiling around my heart and making squeeze happiness out. All I want to do is push them away and wrap my arms around his waist and beg him to be mine. I guess that's the worst part about it—I'm mad at him that he picks up these whores, who only want their own happiness; and then when he drops them, I get happy—like it'll be the last time it happens. Like he'll turn around and he'll see _me_."

"Sasuke," whispered Naruto, his own eyes filling up with sorrow for his best friend. He didn't know anything about these people that Kiba was picking up, but what he did know was that he felt sorry for Sasuke—sorry that Sasuke had to deal with that. Honestly, Sasuke had done absolutely nothing to deserve something like this, and anything he might've done; he'd repented for enough that he deserved to be happy. But he wasn't. He was in love but he wasn't happy, and that wasn't something he would ever want anyone to feel.

That sad smile that Sasuke made was the final straw in Naruto's opinion, as he slammed his closed fist down on the table, making the Uchiha snap his head up and look at him.

"What? You okay?" he asked, frowning.

"Kiba is a dumbass little shit who _doesn't_ _deserve_ **_YOU_**, Sasuke," Naruto said, surprising Sasuke before he sighed, "But you love him, and so, as your best friend… I'll help you get him, although he's lost a hell of a lot of my fucking respect by making you suffer, unintentionally or not. I'll help you get him not because you're both my friends, but because _you're _my most important _nakama_, and you deserve to be happy—even if it's with a stupid shit like Kiba."

Sasuke stared at him for a moment before he smiled softly. "Thank you, Naruto," he said sincerely, his onyx eyes showing more sincere, positive emotion in their depths than Naruto had ever seen before. "Thank you."

The blond-haired loudmouth grinned brightly, rubbing the back of his head with a blush in his cheeks, closing his eyes by habit as he basked in the moment. "Hehe… you're welcome, dattebayo."

* * *

"You know, when Naruto came in with the mission report earlier today, I did expect to see you right next to him. It figures you would flake out on him," Tsunade said with a grumble as her longtime friend and comrade slipped into her office (well, actually, he has transported himself into her office with a puff of smoke, which was possibly more irritating than the window thing).

He grinned at her, cheekily and annoyingly. It actually made her heart hurt a little bit. The grin was so disarming and familiar. It was as if she hadn't spent so much time thinking he was dead. As if she hadn't spent so many nights crying and drinking and screaming because she'd lost her best friend.

"Well, if I did that, I couldn't make my dynamic entry," he said cockily, winking at her.

She blinked. "You sound like Gai. Stop it."

"It isn't my fault that Gai worshipped the very ground I walked on," Jiraiya said with a chuckle, leaning against Tsunade's desk. Tsunade rolled her eyes, pouring herself a cup of sake. Nothing changed. Absolutely nothing about him changed, and she was glad. Jiraiya was still disarmingly _Jiraiya_. This was her best friend, Jiraiya. His grin slipped as he watched her, and he said seriously, "I bet you want to know why I didn't come back, don't you?"

"No, gee, you think?" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes again and downing her cup in one go. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"The fact that you're _not _cursing at me for being moronic was the giveaway." Jiraiya took her cup out of her hand and poured in fresh sake, taking a sip. "I had my reasons."

She leaned back in her chair. "You always do. But faking your death was something you didn't have to do. There was no reason for that." _There was no need to cause me that sort of pain. _

He shook his head in disagreement. "There was all the reason for that. Naruto had to become independent of me in order to defeat Nagato and his Six Paths. He also needed to confront the Akatsuki on his own. I'm an old man; Tsunade, I can't keep helping him with absolutely everything."

"He was destroyed. He refused to take missions for weeks afterwards. I had to force him to take up a team so he could feel important to someone. Something. It was a last-ditch effort."

"Ah, so that explains the sensei-thing, to a degree. You really just wanted to get him out of a depression? How valiant of you." He handed her the cup. "But I had more reasons than just that. It has—well, had, now—to do with Orochimaru." Tsunade raised an eyebrow, allowing him to continue. "It seems that those kids are in a lot more trouble than they previously realized."

"I thought Kabuto was the problem," she said slowly.

"Well, yeah, he is. But he's not completely the issue. There are several factors, I believe," Jiraiya responded before he sighed. "Honestly, I'm not completely sure on all the details. But I've gotten wind that the immortality project has started up again, but… I think it's worse than it used to be."

"What, he's just murdering for fun? He already does that," she grumbled.

"Well, yes, and no. It seems like Kabuto's taking several approaches to it. I've caught words of Kabuto's attempts, but the one that troubled me the most was word that Kabuto has been studying Jashinism lately."

She groaned. "The last thing we need is sadists like him in Jashinism."

Jiraiya nodded. "I agree. But apparently, he approached them to ask about one topic. One singular topic—the chosen one. Jashin's most prized disciple. Their psychotic version of a living, breathing, tangible Jashin, I suppose. Anyways, he was refused answers. This is just word of mouth, but apparently, the church is currently looking for his head on a platter."

Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "Interesting. They rarely target fellow psychotic murderers, even if they're considered to be heathens. Do tell."

"Apparently, Kabuto _stole_ from them," Jiraiya responded, his dark eyes full of thought and care with his wordings.

"Money?"

"No, I doubt that. The church isn't known for having things of absolute value to them, so I ruled out money or land, or physical objects—unless it has Jashin's symbol, it isn't worth shit. So I could only assume one thing… it's got to be something—well, someone—of extreme importance to them. Someone to do with the chosen one."

"Someone? Jiraiya, Jashinism is a _cult_. People to recruit into their crazed following are a dime a dozen. You think they're fretting over losing one person? That wouldn't make a difference."

"It's the only thing I could come up with. This is a religion—yes, cult, but it was a religion first—that holds no value in things like money or objects. All they believe in is killing in the name of their god. Everything else goes against him. Considering the questions that Kabuto supposedly approached the church with, about Jashin-on-earth, I can only make the assumption that he took someone who may be the answer to his questions."

"You're saying that there's such thing as Jashin-on-earth. You know that right?" Tsunade said.

"I'm not. I'm saying that Kabuto wants to be immortal, and if the Jashinists have a way, he'd be stupid not to explore it. It was a wonder Orochimaru never did. Again, everything I'm saying is word-of-mouth. Nothing's concrete. I have my sources looking for more info. I will let you know as soon as I know."

"So you're going to be working _with _me this time? You're not going all lone-ranger on me?"

"Oh, I really hurt your feelings, didn't I, slug princess?" Jiraiya said, teasing her now.

Tsunade growled under her breath. "Get out now. Don't come back unless you have information for me, old toady ecchi."

Jiraiya chuckled. "I missed you, Tsunade."

_Yeah, I missed you too, you idiot. _"Fine, get out." _Be safe. _

He smiled again. He always seemed to read her mind.

"Always am, Tsunade."

_Welcome back, you old pervert._

* * *

"Kabuto-sama; the Nara boy, the Sannin, and the jinchūriki are all back in Konohagakure."

Naito looked up from his bare feet to look up at Kabuto's face, trying to gauge his reaction to the messenger's news. The snake-like male stopped playing with the anaconda winding up and down his arms, a slow and sinister smile creeping onto his too-wide lips. Naito wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling them into him. He really hated Kabuto. He hated every single thing about him, and he really wanted to plunge his knife into Kabuto's neck and watch his blood pour over the blade, but he was realistic in his capabilities and therefore knew he wouldn't get away with it. He knew that he was a toy, a plaything, his pet; and he knew that unless his men got stupid that wouldn't change.

"Perfect," he hissed, sending a shiver rolling down Naito's back. Naito may hate him, but he was also justly afraid of him. Anyone who was able to overpower his church the way he did deserved his fear. His hand moved, grabbed Naito behind the head and beginning to painfully pet him. Naito scowled, but said nothing. Saying anything would not help him. Kabuto would just continue. "Did you make sure everyone was marked, Naito?"

"Yes," Naito responded, knowing better than to hesitate with his response. He was no immortal, after all, and he needed to keep alive. If not for himself, then for his all-too-important precious person, who he wanted desperately to find.

"Including yourself?"

"Yes."

"Excellent," Kabuto hissed again, his smile widening as he regarded the angry youth to his side. His bloodlust and murderous rage, as well as his fear, were all amusing to Kabuto. He loved overpowering such a strong soul, and he couldn't wait to kill the little psychotic bastard and taking what he wanted from his cold, dead body. Immortality. This boy was the key to it all, to the secret of being truly immortal, to being everything Orochimaru could never achieve. He turned back to his messenger, who flinched at the sinisterly happy look in Kabuto's crazed eyes. "Then commence with phase two. Get me the pieces I need."


	10. Chapter 9: Family

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._**

**_Shikamaru & Hinata badassery ahead. _**

**_Enjoy! _**

* * *

_FAMILY _

_/__ˈ__fam(__ə__)lē/_

_a group of persons with common ancestry, a group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation_

* * *

Most people didn't realize it, but Nara Shikamaru was incredibly territorial when it came to the people he cared most about. When he cared about somebody, he kept a constant vigil upon it. His world changed too much for him not to, and as a future clan head, it was only natural for him to.

Maybe it was the influence of having a cat demon within him; Shikamaru didn't truly know. The cat's influences upon his body and psyche were bountiful—his sense of smell became more astute and sensitive, making him lose any liking for the strong smells his mother wore around the house. His sense of hearing increased as well, allowing him to hear anything odd that was happening around his house. He became quieter in his movements, padding around instead of walking.

Thankfully, he didn't start randomly licking himself and coughing up fur balls, nor did he rub himself up against random people or scratch random items (well, he rubbed and scratched Temari, but that was a completely different rubbing and scratching and besides, she liked it), and he also didn't start catching rodents, or carrying his toddler around by his mouth. The territorial part, he wasn't sure it'd given him, but he did know one thing for sure: it increased that territorial nature within him.

"You can't catch me!" giggled Soyokaze as he ran down the hall, followed by a silent Shikamaru, who was smiling widely down at the small body of his three-year-old son as he ran down the hall. He enjoyed when he had moments free so he could play with him, though he claimed to find it troublesome. Watching Soyokaze grow up was quite possibly the most enchanting experience he'd ever had and he didn't like missing any moment of it.

"You can't catch me, Otō~!"

Suddenly, Soyokaze stopped in the middle of the hallway. Shikamaru stopped a few meters away, unsure if Soyokaze was trying to taunt him into catching him, or if something was actually wrong.

Shikamaru didn't have the time to think about if Soyokaze was taunting him. A noise off to his side alerted him, and his senses reacted before his mind caught up. He leaped, grabbing Soyokaze and pressing him down onto the ground as an Fūma shuriken broke easily through the wall, grazing his back and planting firmly inside the wall on the other side of the hallway. Shikamaru's eyes widened in realization of what had just happened: someone made an attempt on his son's life. His precious son, his heir.

Soyokaze stared up at him with wide blue eyes, obviously scared and incomprehensive of what was going on. That look made Shikamaru's vision turned red as he jumped to his feet, pulling shuriken out of his thigh holster and throwing it through the hole created by the giant shuriken and hitting something fleshy, though, due to the fact that there was no scream; he could only assume that it was dead—the increasingly pungent smell pointed to that fact, at least. In the back of his mind, he realized that it was actually Obito's room that he was throwing things into, but he didn't care.

_Whoever threatens my son needs to die. _

"Shikamaru!"

"Get my son and my wife and hide them!" he ordered instantly, leaping through the hole, his nose differentiating the smells quickly enough for him to turn around and throw his fist into the chest of a shinobi who was trying to sneak up on him. The ninja's face was obscured by a cloth mask, holding no markers of an allegiance towards anyone. All Shikamaru knew about the man was that he was going to die by his hands, a fact he would make sure of.

Nara Shikamaru was a territorial man and when people screwed with his family, he became a territorial lion—a lion who, at the moment, was getting ready to play a game of cat-and-mouse.

The man threw down a flash bomb, but Shikamaru was ready for it, already closing his eyes and memorizing the scent of the shinobi. The sound of breaking glass was more than an indicator for him as he turned on the balls of his feet, leaping out the window blindly before he opened his eyes, landing on a branch and making chase, easily locating the fleeing shinobi who had invaded his house. The man turned around, throwing shuriken at him. Pulling out his own weapons, he threw the same amount at the incoming weaponry, deflecting each and every one of them as he surged forwards, gaining on the man all too easily.

As an ANBU, Shikamaru had been required to become more than efficient on more arts than the specific set of ninjutsu his family specialized in. He had the basic training within the Fire Release beforehand, but he mastered the arts while training to become a part of the prodigious order. He'd never really thought of using it, though (his shadow ninjutsu was fine enough) but he wanted to do more than just trapping someone right now. He wanted to make him suffer; he wanted to make him feel unquestionable agony. Slamming his hands together into the tiger seal, he reared back, an almost unbearable heat gathering in the pit of his stomach before he released it, the flames forming the shape of a large dragon that burned the branches in its path to reach his target, catching the shinobi in the back. The flames quickly spread, and the man screamed in pain, falling out of the tree line and onto the ground.

Shikamaru touched down a few meters away from him, glaring at the man who was writhing about in agony in pain, now begging for his life as he rolled around, managing to put out the worse of the flames on his body. He allowed him to do so without much argument—he did want to talk to the man before he took his life. Shikamaru walked calmly over to him, standing on top of his badly burned leg and making him screech in agony.

"Who sent you?" he asked automatically, arms crossing over his chest.

The man, thankfully, didn't even make the attempt to lie. "Ya-Yakushi Kabuto!" he sobbed as Shikamaru put more weight down on his leg, twisting his bare, dirtied foot into the wound.

"What did you aim to do?"

"H-He told me to h-harm the soon-to-be Nara clan heir!"

Shikamaru nodded. "So… you were trying to kill my son?"

"YES!"

"There was a wall in the way. So, either you have an amazing sense of smell, or you can see through walls, or you have creatures to tell you what is in my home. Or… have you been stationed all day, observing, and just waiting for a chance to strike?"

"THE LAST ONE! PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!"

"Good. Because, if you were a Hyūga, an Inuzuka, or an Aburame, I might've actually gone easy on you," said Shikamaru, removing his foot from the man's leg and instead sat down on his torso, pulling a kunai out of his flak jacket's pocket. The man panted, writhing underneath him, and Shikamaru idly started to carve a message into the man's leg as he screamed in agony. When he was finished, he hummed satisfactorily, turning around and looking at the man's mask. "How old are you?"

"TWENTY-FIVE! PLEASE, PLEASE STOP!"

"I'm twenty," said Shikamaru, staring at the blood smeared on the blade of the kunai. "I'm twenty, and I'm going to be a clan head soon. I'm also a father, a father of a three-year-old toddler; an innocent boy who knows nothing about death and decay and fear and war. My son is the very light in my life. I love him more than life itself, in fact. As a father, for you to threaten my son, my precious light, my fuckin' _world_… it makes you the scum of the fucking planet. Anyone who fucks with my son, the heir to my entire family and one of the few people I would give up my life to protect, deserves to die a slow _painful __**death**_." On the last word, Shikamaru plunged the kunai into the man's throat, breaking through his windpipe and splitting open an artery, the blood gushing as if it came out of a geyser. Shikamaru pulled the blade out and watched this man suffer, wanting to watch him die for what he'd attempted.

"Shikamaru." The Nara heir turned, blinking upon seeing Suigetsu and his father standing behind him, their eyes wide as they took in what he had done. Shikamaru sighed and stood, tossing the kunai onto the writhing man. "Shikamaru, you—"

"Did Soyokaze see anything?" he asked in an emotionless voice, making his way over to the two shinobi. "The bodies?"

Shikaku shook his head. "No. I made sure of it. He and Temari are perfectly safe, he's just scared, and Temari's pissed as hell that someone tried to hurt you guys."

"He was aiming for Soyokaze," said Shikamaru in an uncharacteristically cold tone, turning his head to look at the would-be assassin. "He's one of Kabuto's minions. I think he was aiming to harm Obito by harming me. And he is no longer any sort of issue."

Suigetsu whistled. "And I'm supposed to be a psycho." Shikamaru, normally, would've grinned. Instead, he just gave a look that was vaguely akin to something like disdain, but Suigetsu and Shikaku could easily see his heart wasn't in it enough to care. Maybe tomorrow, Shikamaru would be able to joke around and feel emotions, but at that moment, he was just _coping_. He'd never slaughtered someone before. Yes, he had killed—but this was far and beyond just assassination. This was done out of hatred, and this was intentionally drawn out.

Suigetsu placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, his half-hearted smirk slipping off his face. "Want me to dump the body?"

"Cut it apart. I don't even want to know the face, and I don't care what you do to the body. Just keep the right leg intact. Take the leg outside the borders of Konoha and just dump it," ordered Shikamaru clearly, sighing and continuing forwards, headed in the direction of the Nara compound. "Then, after that, come to meet me at the compound. I hate drinking alone."

Suigetsu nodded, pulling the Kubikiribōchō off his back, making his way over to the body. Curious, he crouched down next to the right leg in question, eyes widening in realization that Shikamaru had carved characters into the man's leg. He shivered upon reading the words, finally understanding why Shikamaru had been able to live for so long in ANBU.

**_The next time you attempt to fuck around with my family,_** it read in nearly illegible kanji due to the amount of blood dripping from each every slice made into the flesh and the sheer amount of burnt tissue,**_ I will come for you, and trust me… blood will paint the walls. Try me, motherfucker. Just try fucking with my family. I dare you to._**

* * *

If there was anything that becoming her father's apprentice had taught her over the years, it was that Hinata didn't like the Hyūga council. They were old idiots that really needed to be slapped _hard _for a lot of the hypocritical idiocy that came out of their mouths, as well as their selfish ways of dealing with situations that they didn't benefit from, not to mention that they were Main House elders, so that meant that most of the reconstruction her father had done over the years, they would love to abolish and change back to what they were before. It was irritating and she really wished she could take her mother's sword and cut their heads off. Of course, that would remove her from candidacy for the clan head, and they'd put one of her idiot cousins in charge and really screw up the clan, so she couldn't do that.

But, oh… how she really wished she could.

Neji could somehow sense this murderous need in Hinata as he sighed, taking her hand in his and giving it a light, reassuring squeeze. She looked over to him, irritation showing in the depths of her pale lavender eyes, and he gave a half-hearted smile.

"Don't worry," he mouthed, "I wanna kill them, too." Hinata gave a half-hearted smile of her own, a small giggle passing her lips.

"Is there something around you more _interesting_ than this meeting?"

Both shinobi flinched, turning their attentions back to the council. The faces of each old council member were enough to destroy any sort of happy mood that Hinata was trying to feel. She sighed unhappily before locking eyes with the youngest of the old; the man who'd asked her the question.

"No, Hiro-Ojiisama," she responded in a cold voice to her paternal grandfather, not bothering to hide her dislike for the old man. He had to be the worst. He didn't care for his own sons; all he cared about was the family name. _Isn't a father supposed to care?_ Well, no, not in the Hyūga clan, or at least the age her father had been born into. She knew this, and yet, she found herself sort of surprised by some of the cold, callous things he did and said sometimes. Did she really share the same genetic material as this reprobate? "This meeting has my full attention."

Hiro nodded once. "Good," he responded, not betraying any dislike Hinata knew he must feel towards her before continuing on with whatever he was saying. "Anyways, I think we will receive nothing if we allow her to marry a man like Sabaku nō Kankurō. Granted, he is a gifted shinobi, but he does nothing for us politically. The brother may be a better option for exploitation." _Eww, _Hinata thought with a frown, _Gaar-kun's like a brother… not a lover. _She couldn't even _see_ the red-headed Kazekage like that. Besides, he was in love with someone already, and he was happy with her.

"I don't believe the Kazekage would possibly ever be very… _interested_ in the prospect of marrying her," sighed Hiashi, putting his cheek on his palm and tapping his finger against the wooden tabletop. She knew her father was just as irritated by the council as she and Neji were. Nearly four years of having to dick around on the same subject matter would do that, she figured. He flicked a glance at her, a reassuring smile in the depths of his white eyes. "What do you think, Hinata?"

"Same idea. Gaara doesn't see me like that," she agreed, "He sees me a sibling and nothing more."

Hiro shrugged. "He doesn't have to see you like that. As long as he can provide a viable offspring, he could see you as anything he wants."

_That makes #4,382 in the list of the stupid shit the elders think to say. I think. _"I would prefer to have a husband who can provide a 'viable offspring' _and _love me at the same time," she responded coldly, frowning.

Hiro glared at her and responded in an equally frigid voice, "If you wanted _love_, Hinata-sama, then you should've given up your seat in this clan." _God that would've made you ecstatic, wouldn't it? _

"Yes, because becoming the clan head and wanting love are two mutually exclusive things for me," responded Hinata sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her grandfather.

"Yes, they are," Hiro replied in a steely voice. "Hiashi, have you not taught your daughter obedience?"

Hiashi sighed, closing his eyes. "I taught my daughter obedience and how to be proper in business and politics to those who _deserve_ her respect, much like you taught me, Hiro-sama." His meaning was clear: his father had not earned his daughter's respect, not in any term.

Hiro scoffed. "That was obviously the _wrong_ lesson. You forget that you sired two females instead of males and paired with that _wench_ I allowed you to wed; I see why Hinata came out wrong. She's defiant and stupid, just like her mother. In my day, if I had your daughter, I would've flogged her every time she said something that was unsavory." The council hummed their agreement, and Hinata clenched her fists, her anger growing by the second that Hiro talked. Hiashi glared at his father, reaching his own limit.

Neither was expecting that their usually silent and calmer accompanying third party was already there.

"Shut up!" barked Neji, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table, stopping all conversation immediately, both Hiashi and Hinata's eyes widening at Neji's uncharacteristic display of disobedience. "Just shut up and show her some damned respect! Hinata-sama is the future leader of the clan, and Hiashi-sama is the current leader of the clan! They both demand more respect from all of you! You are their _underlings_, not their superiors!"

"Neji-Niisan, calm down. It's okay," whispered Hinata.

"No, it's not fucking _okay_! Hinata-sama has worked damned hard to get to where she is at! Your rudeness towards her obviously shows your idiocy and shallowness if you think causing her misery will get you anywhere! She _will _be the leader of this clan, and she _will_ be _better_ than you _ever _were… Hiro-_Ojiisan_." Hinata's eyes widened, knowing that Neji's last word would be the straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back.

As a Branch House member, Neji was, by all intents and purposes, so far below the council that he was almost an ant. Therefore, he was supposed to give all members of the council respectful titles, such as –san, -sama, or -chama. Hiro was not, therefore, considered his grandfather—to Neji, he was the Honorable Hiro-sama. However, by calling Hiro _grandfather_ in a more familial way, it was as if he was close to being like them, and so it was an intentionally disrespectful way of referring to the head of the small council, even if Hiro technically was his grandfather.

Hiro's eyes flashed with anger, and before Hinata even truly realized it Neji collapsed to the ground, holding his forehead, screaming and writhing with pain. She gasped out, jumping out of her chair to touch her cousin, only for him to scream louder upon her touching him. She had been very young the last time she'd ever seen the curse mark being used, and she had no idea how much pain it actually was.

"Branch House scum; thinking you are like us! Gifted as you may be, cockroach, you will _never _be like us, so do not speak to us like you are!"

Hinata was a woman of high tolerance for irritating things—she had been in the same class with Naruto and Kiba, after all; and she wasn't in ANBU for nothing but even _she_ had her limitations. Seeing her friends and family being hurt was much beyond her limitation, and the worse thing imaginable for any person to do was to make her reach that point.

She activated her Byakugan as she pulled out her sword from underneath her seat, jumping onto the table and running down it, unsheathing it and holding into the face of her grandfather, pressing its tip into his wrinkled cheek. The man opened his mouth to chastise her, but the cold look in her eye stopped him. Though she was kind-hearted, the look came naturally to her, as an ANBU and as a Hyūga. It was cold, analytical, and even cruel, and it meant that she was prepared to drop her kindness and kill at the flip of a switch, regardless of who they may be.

"Stop causing my older brother pain _this instant_," she said in a cold, authoritarian voice that had all council members shivering in fear. Hiro's eyes widened at this new side to his granddaughter, cutting off his jutsu and stopping Neji's pain at her wish. The boy gasped out in relief, much to Hinata's own, but she didn't display this.

"Now listen to me, very, _very _carefully," she said evenly, not moving to check on Neji or to remove her sword from her grandfather's face. "I do not wish to spill blood and dirty my kimono. It was purchased as a gift for me from a man I truly _love_, and I like it very much. However, I will if you push me any further. Are you going to push me any further, Hiro-Ojiisama?" He opened his mouth to speak, only for Hinata to press the tip into his cheek further, breaking the skin and drawing blood. "Do not speak. I don't want to hear you. Respond with a nod, or shake your head. These are your very _few_ options. I shall repeat myself only once more. Are you going to push me any further?"

Hiro shook his head, and Hinata nodded, pulling her katana back and placing it back into its sheathe. She walked down the table quickly, bending down and placing it in front of her father, who was, in fact, smiling with pride at his daughter's display. She gave him a quick smile of her own before she stood back up, the smile slipping away as she returned her attention back to the council members.

"I have dealt with the disrespect of this council for many, many years," she began, walking slowly down the table and making sure to look at each member she walked by. "I understand that you have certain prejudices against me due to my gender. And I know why that is—it is because you are all from the old days of the Hyūga and, therefore, inherently sexist. And, for a while, I allowed this. Why? Because the disrespect of a few old bastards, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't mean very much.

"However, it's come to my attention that allowing you to be as biased as you are is slowing our clan from maturing. Your prejudices against me, my sister, my late mother, and the entire Branch House stop us from ever moving forwards, and beyond that, it sincerely pisses me off. We are Hyūga. Are we not supposed to be better than this?

"Neji is correct. You are simply an _advisory_ council, and therefore _not _my superiors. For too long, my father has allowed you powers above what you had, and I am personally sick and tired of watching my father lose his sanity trying to get everything he wants for this clan done. Granted, he has done a great many thing for this clan, but you are all there ready to hold him back. I shall not tolerate this during my administration. I refuse to give up what I want for the clan, and just for the clan. My family name does matter to me, but my happiness does too. If the clan heads before me didn't have to sacrifice their happiness, I see no reason for me to have to.

"I may be a woman, but I was raised like an heir and I am a warrior of Konoha, much like the rest of you. As such, I demand respect from you—all of you. I don't care if you dislike me. I don't care if you hate me. But you _will _respect me and my authority. There are no alternatives. I will not take more crap from any of you, and if I feel that you are hindering the clan in any way, I will not hesitate to be rid of you. You will respect my decisions, my words, and my laws, because they are, around you, one in the same."

She stopped in front of her grandfather, finally, and turned around, walking quickly back down the table. "I am your soon-to-be clan head and as such I will not simply marry someone just so you can get ahead. I refuse to. I should be given the same rights to happiness that my father has gotten, and his father before that, and his father before that. I don't care if you dislike it, but I have made my decision and as nothing more than advisors, as Neji-Niisan as previously mentioned, you shall respect my decision."

She stepped down onto her seat, hopping off of it to land alongside her cousin. Neji looked up at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. She smiled down at him, offering her hand to him. He smiled back, taking her hand and pulling himself up with her support.

"Gentlemen, today you have made asses out of yourselves and I believe a new leadership of this council is in order, one that coincides with the changes and leaps forwards that the clan has made over the years. Do you agree, Otōsan?" she asked, turning to her father, who smiled wider and nodded. "Good," she said with a chuckle, "Then, the day I take the seat of the head, not only shall Hiro-Ojiisama be removed from the top of the elder council and replaced with my father; my _older brother_, Neji, shall become the second-in-command."

One elder jumped to his feet. "You mean to _dirty_ this council?!"

"Dirty? No. I cannot dirty what is already so," she said, glaring at him, "I mean to clean it. To make it better. To reflect that the Hyūga has truly begun to change. And what better way to do it than to make someone as dear to me as Neji-Nii a council member?" Neji looked down at Hinata, his eyes wide at his cousin's guts. "And trust me, I have many more changes coming your way, but for now, I'm too annoyed by the lot of you to even think of continuing this conversation with you annoying old _cunts_." They all blinked at Hinata's use of profanity, while Hiashi just began to laugh. "Otōsan, Neji-Niisan, I think I would like tea. Would either of you care to join me?"

Hiashi pushed back his chair back, still laughing as he nodded, standing up and picking up Hinata's katana as he walked out of the room, too amused by his daughter's enraged speech to care if he was being impolite to his elders. Neji squeezed Hinata's hand gently, allowing himself to smile widely with pride at the immense backbone Hinata had just displayed towards these vindictive old council members, showing him, for the umpteenth time; how much she deserved her inheritance.

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba was a man of many definitions, and one of those definitions was definitely _not _an early riser. Kiba was not fond of waking up before ten AM. In fact, 'not fond' was a gross understatement. He deeply and totally resented the idea of waking up before ten AM. In fact, he felt that all times before ten AM should be abolished and eradicated. He hated the fact that they even existed, because since it existed, some people thought it was okay to wake him up during that time—especially annoying older sisters who thought it was fun to shove her seemingly ice-cold foot under his abdomen and wiggle her toes and make him squirm and try to keep asleep.

Hana glared down at her little brother, who was sprawled lazily and fully on top of his bed, his arm draped across the smaller body of some random guy he'd probably met the night before. Though she knew that her brother was bisexual, like much of the clan, including herself; lately, all of the people he brought home were skinnier men with pale skin and black hair, and she could've sworn that one of them had a pissed-off look that could rival Uchiha Sasuke.

Did she mention that they all resembled Sasuke to her?

Kiba groaned and pushed his knee in between the smaller males', making him moan out and writhe underneath Kiba's larger body. Hana rolled her eyes, pushing her foot further underneath her brother's body and rubbing her toes against Kiba's nipple. She knew that Kiba hated it when people tried to wake him up, and she sometimes wished she cared. But it was moments like these, when his room stunk of sweat, sex, and vodka and a random whore writhing around underneath him while Akamaru whined outside of his door; having apparently been kicked out while Kiba was fuckinga random civilian last night, that she really couldn't find it in her to give even a little bit _less _than half of a shit.

Hana sighed, finally reaching her limitation on the issue presented to her. She removed her foot from underneath Kiba, pressing it instead against Kiba's warm cheek instead and forcing his face into the pillow, making sure his breathing was stopped by the pillow she was attempting to suffocate him with. And then she smiled, opened her mouth, and said, with the loudest voice she had:

"_INUZUKA KIBA, GET __YOUR ASS UP RIGHT NOW __BEFORE I KILL YOU __**IN YOUR FUCKING SLEEP**__!_" Usually, she wasn't one for extreme amounts of vulgarity, like her mother was, but the shock factor of her waking up her little brother was simply added to when using curse words.

Kiba's eyes snapped open, and he gave a loud yelp before he twisted, falling off the bed and almost taking the male who'd been underneath him the entire time with him. Of course, the male had a lot better reflexes than Hana would've given him credit for—he pulled himself out of Kiba's arms and pressed himself against the wall, his [onyx] eyes wide in surprise.

"What the fuck, Hana?!" snapped Kiba, jumping to his feet, standing upright… and fully and totally naked.

Hana flinched and put her hand in front of her eyes, letting a small squeal out of her lips. "KIBA! Why don't you wear clothing to bed? Why don't you even have underwear on? You're at home! You live with your family! Wear something, goddammit! Fucking _shit!_" She ran a hand through her hair, blushing crazily. Kiba frowned, looking down at himself before he began to blush himself, putting his hands down in front of his manhood.

"Sonovabitch—Hana, get the hell out, please, I'm _begging_ you," said Kiba, picking up the end of the sheet hanging on the floor, holding it in front of his groin, his blush contracting deeply with the dark red of his fang tattoos. The boy in Kiba's bed was blushing almost as deeply as Kiba was, from what Hana could see between her fingers.

"God. Just," Hana said, "Just get dressed, get the boy—"

"Daisuke," whispered the boy. _And he has almost the same name. Great job at trying to replace Sasuke, Kiba… _

"Whatever," Hana sighed again, "Just get your ass dressed, get _Daisuke _out of the house, and get downstairs so we can get to the Hokage tower. Tsunade-sama called us both there, and we need to be there in an hour. Just… sneak him out the back, Kiba, because if Okāsan even gets a _whiff_ of him, you're in for hell. She still hasn't forgiven you for the last person you decided to fuck under her roof." Daisuke frowned, and Hana barely managed to hold back snickers in amusement. She never liked any of the whores Kiba brought home. Yeah, sure, some of them were nice. But… they weren't whom she knew Kiba really had the hots for.

"Hana, it's… its two o'clock in the fucking morning! Why are we needed so damned early? Is she even fucking _awake_ right now?" he grumbled.

"I don't know, but whatever it might be, it's got to be important," she deadpanned, glaring at her younger brother. "I'll be downstairs."Hana left Kiba's bedroom, resisting the urge to pluck out her eyes. They may be brother and sister, but they weren't that close! She didn't need an update on Kiba's _dick_!

"Hana, are you okay?"

The Inuzuka flinched, looking over to the former Uchiha heir sitting on her sofa, a small blush (thankfully hidden by the tattoos on her cheeks) developing on her cheeks. He had been the one who had woken her up that morning, giving her word that Tsunade had called for her and Kiba that morning, and was polite enough to wait up for the both of them, since he'd already come this way, and so to also detract from the amount of anger Tsunade might feel. Itachi was usually always on-time, and since he was more on-time than most shinobi in Konohagakure, she had a _lot _more leniency with him than anyone else.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at Hana, smiling softly at her. "I'm sorry, was I too silent?" he asked politely.

"Ah… maybe," she said, giving a blush and a small smile, sitting down in the couch next to Itachi. She hadn't been this close to Itachi since she was much younger, back when they both attended the Academy together, and she was glad that he seemed to have no problems with their closeness. "You have such a… aura, and then you're so silent that people just don't notice you sometimes. Um… good thing for an ANBU. I mean, not that I know that you're in ANBU. Because I totally don't." _Ugh, so awkward, kill me. _

Itachi smiled softly, a light chuckle escaping his lips. "Yes, it is a good thing for an ANBU to be… _silent_. It doesn't quite do for dealing with people, as I've understood as so far, but sometimes I can't help it." His smile lowered into a slight smirk.

Hana giggled. "You're the silent type, Uchiha-kun. It's not your fault."

Itachi flicked a glance at her. "After all these years, you still call me Uchiha-kun, Hana? You've known me since school."

"I never really knew you. And you graduated before I could even think of getting the chance to finish knowing you," Hana said with a shrug, smelling the exit of Daisuke out of their back door.

"Well," said Itachi with a growing smile, holding out his hand. She looked up at him, a confused look in her eyes, and his smile, unexpectedly, grew slightly, even. "My name is Uchiha Itachi. I'm twenty-five. And…" He cocked his head slightly. "…Your name is…?"

Hana caught on, her blush increasing as she took his hand, giving it a slight shake. "I'm Inuzuka Hana. I just so happen to be twenty-five, too."

He chuckled—_actually chuckled_—and said, "Small world, isn't it."

"It's a very small world. Next thing I know, you'll be telling me that you live in Konohagakure, too."

"Well… it just so happens…"

"That you're _flirting_ with my sister?" Both shinobi flinched, turning to see the younger Inuzuka standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowed at Itachi. Itachi immediately stiffened up, redrawing his hand from Hana's and moving back in the couch, his smile disappearing. "Yeah. I can see that. And I _definitely_ do not like it," said Kiba, arms crossed. Akamaru whined and pulled at the bottom hem of his mesh shirt, trying to get his biased master to stop.

"I apologize for making you uncomfortable," Itachi said, standing up off of the couch, once again returning to a stoic attitude that had Hana's mood tanking. He turned, and Hana quickly gave her brother the finger, as well as an expression that showed her disdain for her brother's approach towards her allowing herself to 'flirt' with Uchiha Itachi. He scowled and shrugged, looking away from her. "I think… I think we should be getting to the Hokage's office. She's only patient to a point, right?" he asked, turning around again in time for him to catch the end of Hana's reaction.

She didn't notice that he caught the end as she turned and smiled softly at him. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We should be going, shouldn't we?"

She also didn't know the light blush on his cheeks as he turned around, looking forwards at the door with a light smile on her face. He liked the fact that she could challenge Kiba without any pre-thoughts. She wasn't afraid to attempt to put Kiba in his place, whatever the situation was, and he most definitely liked that fact. He wanted a girl with a lot of backbone, and she had more than enough.

* * *

"It's about damned time you got here," Tsunade growled, glaring at the three shinobi, led by the Uchiha who was one of the very few shinobi above a Chūnin rank to actually still utilize a door, which she was finding to be increasingly rare, especially amongst those whom she just seemed to find in her office all too often. Itachi flicked a glance at her and somehow managed to actually shrug politely (which was a motion she couldn't figure out how to do herself), taking his place next to his own younger brother. Kiba resisted the urge to growl at him, taking his place next to Hana who, for this meeting; served as the buffer between the Uchiha brothers and her little brother, knowing better than to allow the chance of something happening.

"Sorry, Tsunade-sama, but I got lost on my way to the Inuzuka compound," Itachi blatantly lied, mostly to cover up for Kiba's slowness upon waking up; but also to protect his little brother from knowing that Kiba was sleeping with yet _another _person. Sasuke knew full well about Kiba's sexual escapades, and each and every one hurt Sasuke immensely—though he did his very best to hide it from everyone.

Tsunade knew he was lying, too—as an ANBU, Itachi had been required to absolutely know his way around the village, all of them were—but she let it go, knowing the reason he had for protecting Sasuke from it. Naruto had talked about it—at length—earlier that same night.

"Whatever," she sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I'll just get to my point. Two days ago, as the Uchiha brothers know, Nara Obito came back to Konohagakure with two curse seals on his body, which was dealt with before the situation escalated. Last night, I got word that three kunoichi, fitting the detailing of the women that had given Obito these curse marks that I got from Jiraiya, one of Obito's traveling companions, were found hanging in the Nara compound—specifically, the bedroom Obito used to live in. Thankfully, the youngest children in the compound didn't see it, and neither did Obito, as he is resting at the Uchiha compound. Nara Shikamaru personally dealt with the shinobi who infiltrated the compound in order to deface Obito's quarters. Needless to say… that shinobi is no longer a concern of mine.

"But there was a message discovered in their gear that I found… disconcerting," she said, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a stack of photographs. She laid them out carefully on the table, spreading them so the shinobi could see them. Sasuke, who hadn't indicated any sort of emotion from what she could see, was the first to step forwards, a frown pulling at his lips. She knew that he found as much disdain for the photographs as she did—after all, who would be perfectly alright seeing about five pictures of his own student; training, eating, sleeping, _dressing_?

"What the hell are these?" Itachi asked as he picked up a picture of his younger brother in the same sort of situations—except he was also pictured playing Gō in the confines of the Uchiha compound. The angle told him that the person who took the picture had to be on a corner of the roof by the courtyard. How could he not have noticed such an obvious thing, something so obvious as someone standing practically _directly _across from his little brother, taking pictures of him?

Kiba scowled, noticing pictures of Hinata, turning to Hana as he held up a particular picture of Hinata kissing Kankurō—which hadn't happened more than a couple of days ago. He was even in that shot, which was the worse part—how did he not notice some random stranger, taking photographs of _his _best friends?

"I don't know how they were captured, but that isn't a concern anymore—the 'body' found last night near the Nara compound had a small camera in its weapons pouch," said Tsunade, frowning. Kiba's own frown deepened—the way she said 'body', with those air quotes, made him think that Shikamaru had gone slightly overboard. "If you take a notice to some of them, you'll notice they have a couple of stains at the corners. It looks like water damage, but my labs have identified them to, in fact, be sweat—actually, human sweat mixed with a small of snake venom. It's an easily tracked scent, according to my sources. That's where you two come in," she said, pointing to the two Inuzuka shinobi. "As trackers, I need you to use your ninken to pull up a scent, see if we can trace the person who took these photographs."

"What about us?" asked Itachi, frowning.

"Right," said Tsunade with a sigh, "I need you guys to pair up. If this trail leads to Kabuto in the end, I need people who can end him, quickly and efficiently. I want this bastard wiped off the face of the planet. He's caused us more than enough problems. I would send Kakashi, but he has a son at home to think about. I would send Hinata, but she is the Hyūga heiress, and she has her own problems I need her for and she is, and always has been, one of Kabuto's main targets. I would even send Gaara, but he is the Kazekage and I cannot risk his life. I'm not saying I _like_ risking your lives, but in the grand scheme of things, the two of you are the only options I have left for quick and efficient killing. You've proven yourselves to the fact." Sasuke and Itachi looked at each other once before nodding, accepting the information.

"So we are going as a four-man unit?" Kiba asked, raising an eyebrow. "That'll draw attention, especially with the dogs…"

"No. That's not efficient enough," said Itachi, turning slightly to Kiba. "There's two of you and two of us for a reason. There will be two, two-man teams—three, given that you each only bring one ninken. Sasuke and I work predominantly from the shadows, so a four-man group wouldn't utilize our skills best—we'd be worrying about each other rather than you two, who are our major concerns for this mission's success. Besides, it wouldn't make sense for there to be more than one medic per team."

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "'More than one'?"

"Sasuke has basic training in the medical ninjutsu arts. He's the one who save Nara Obito's life two days ago," Tsunade said, nodding her head towards the young Uchiha heir, "And Itachi is right. They do work best in the background, but if they were on the same team, they'd constantly worry about each other's safety, which isn't a good thing in the case of a fight, considering the two of you are their primary focal points, not each other. Not that you two can't help yourselves, but most of their mission is to protect you so you can remain focused on your own tasks. So it will be two-man teams—Itachi, you'll be with Hana; and Kiba, you'll be with Sasuke."

"But—" began Kiba, eyes wide before Tsunade cut him off.

"I don't want to hear complaints. Not every pairing I give out is a match made in heaven. They're made based upon a question of familiarity and compatibility. The compatibility being, you are in the same age groups in your pairings, and you went to school together; which means that you know some of the basics of their techniques. There are other factors involved, but I know all you want to do is argue with me, so I'm gonna do myself a favor and send you off. I want you to leave ASAP. Am I completely understood?"

They all nodded.

* * *

_**Thank you, sailorangelmoon1 (every time I see your name, I want to write 'sailormoon' instead... so I apologize if I've fucked up your name in the thanks before. I know how it's spelt, but Sailor Moon was the shit when I was a kid and I can't stop writing it like that, it's habit) for your kind review. I'm glad I made you smile because of the things I make Obito do :) **_

_**I just finished a piece of OC/Nabi smut that I'm proud of... shame that it's in a chapter very far off... the story's going to take off right after that chapter... I just wanted to get a majority of the romance done before I actually hit the danger and shit, so that's going to start now... wish the author luck with favorites and follows and reviews! :3 **_

_**I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next one should be up soon! **_


	11. Chapter 10: Protect

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._**

* * *

_PROTECT _

_/pr__əˈ__tekt/_

_keep safe from any harm or injury, aim to preserve; to keep from being damaged, attacked, stolen or injured; guard _

* * *

"This fucking sucks!"

Aburame Shino sighed for the umpteenth time as he listened to Kiba's complaining, continuing to rub the top of Akamaru's head. The dog whined under its breath, visibly annoyed by Kiba's constant complaining but lacking the capability to get through the moron he called a master and get through to him. Shino gave him a sympathetic look, which would've went known by the ninken even if the Aburame wasn't wearing his usual sunglasses. Shino felt safe enough in the confines of Kiba's room to take them off, though (and the light was always low, so he didn't have to worry about hurting his sensitive eyes) and so all his emotions were easy to see, easy to read.

"Don't you agree?!"

Such as his disdain for Kiba's idiocy.

"No. Sasuke is a good shinobi, and his missions are nearly always successful. He'll keep you safe, uninjured, and capable to complete the task given to you two," Shino said in his usual no-nonsense tone.

He was doing his best to hide the fact that he didn't like it when Kiba idiotically made his 'disapproval' for Sasuke known to people. It wasn't a smart thing to do, especially since it was so obvious to him now that the two were in love with each other. He felt like an idiot for not seeing it earlier than two years ago (at least, not seeing Kiba's side of it until two years ago) but now that he had, it was aggravating to see Kiba believe he had to always deny himself what he wanted.

Kiba scowled. "You're supposed to be on my side, not that traitor's."

"I'm on the side of reason, Kiba. Nothing else."

"Reason my ass; you just wanna piss me off, don't you!?"

Shino sighed. "Pissing you off is the least of my concerns. It's so easy to do that I don't need to try for it. Have you ever considered trying to have a conversation with Sasuke, Kiba, rather than having a hatred for him formed out of nothing other than a bunch of incorrect observations? Maybe then you'd known what you're talking about."

"I do know what I'm talking about, ass! He's an egotistical, power-hungry little traitor!" spat Kiba.

"Egotistical, maybe, but he's not 'power-hungry', 'little' or a 'traitor', not anymore. Just because he's slightly shorter and skinnier than you does not make him little, just because he's stronger than you doesn't make him power-hungry, and just because he once left Konoha does not make him a traitor. It makes him confused and misunderstood."

"He isn't confused," said Kiba, attempting to be cold, but finding it hard to keep the curious lilt out of his voice. Sasuke always seemed confident and in control, always seeming incredibly perfect to Kiba, incredibly inhuman. "Sasuke's never been confused."

Shino shook his head. "Yes, he is. Sasuke is socially awkward due to the fact that for the longest time, he had to live up to the status of being the 'last Uchiha'. It puts a strain on a person, especially when Sasuke was so young. Beyond that, he's lived up tot that standard for years, only to have the carpet ripped out from underneath him with the discovery that he wasn't the last, and that he wasn't alone. He has no idea how to readjust to not being 'the last' anything, and he has no idea how to converse with people now that it's known that he isn't the last of a dying breed of ninja. He has social inadequacies that will probably never be fixed, especially with the judgments about him that people pass about him." Shino sighed. "Kiba, you're going to be around him for weeks on end for the duration of the mission. Can you try to get to know him, even just a little? I think you could benefit."

Kiba stared at him, his eyes softening. He did want to get to know Sasuke, but he… he wasn't sure how he could possibly go about being nicer to him. Sasuke hated him, he knew it full well; Sasuke's comments towards him made him sure of it. It was his own fault, really: Sasuke wasn't as cold towards anyone as he was towards other people and while Kiba really wanted to fix that relationship, he wasn't sure how. It was his fault, but he had no idea where to start something like that.

"I don't need to know him, Shino," Kiba responded sadly.

"But you want to," Shino said, and Akamaru barked in agreement. Kiba scowled but said nothing, returning to packing the necessary and minimum supplies, knowing to travel light despite the possibility of a long-term mission. He knew his scowl wasn't true; inside he was sad, and he was hurting. He wanted Sasuke to honestly like him. He hated that Sasuke hated him. He really liked Sasuke, he knew he did, but something about him made so insecure and so… just so unable to think clearly. Something about Sasuke made him so incredibly stupid and he was constantly putting his foot straight into that big mouth of his and he didn't know how to stop and – "Kiba?"

He snapped up, looking Shino in the eyes. Dammit. He'd gotten lost in his thoughts about Sasuke; that goddamned Uchiha that drove him so crazy and made him so stupid all the damned time. Kiba opened his mouth to apologize for spacing out and thinking about Sasuke when he was supposed to be hanging out with his friend, who was only recently back from his search-and-destroy mission, but Shino beat him to the punch with a question that was so far out there that Kiba momentarily forgot how to breathe: "Kiba, are you in love with Sasuke?"

The question had surprised him, but what surprised him more was his automatic reaction to the question, one made only because the surprise had resulted in a lapse of judgment.

"Yeah. I love Sasuke a lot and too much to think about sometimes. It's painful, and I've fucked it up beyond all recognition and I've got no idea how to even go about fixing what it's become."

He slapped his hands over his mouth the moment the last word left his lips, his eyes widening as Shino and Akamaru both stared at him, shocked that he—the ever-stubborn Inuzuka Kiba—had actually admitted out loud, with no amount of forcing on either his or his ninken's part, that he loved Sasuke. Kiba ran a hand through his hair, his tattoo doing nothing to hide the incredibly red and large blush on his cheeks, cursing himself up and down silently. "Shit. I never said that. I never fucking said that."

"There's nothing wrong with being in love, Kiba," responded Shino with a whisper. "Love is good. Sasuke is a good man, so why don't you… you know, get with him?" It was slightly weird to him to be talking to his male best friend about boys, but this was Kiba. Kiba would never judge him, so who would he be to judge him? Besides, what did it matter if Kiba was into men? That didn't make him any different from the Kiba he'd known practically all of his entire life. Kiba was, and always would be, his best friend and that would never change, despite his sexuality, despite who he chose to be with. As long as he was happy Shino would always support him and if Sasuke made Kiba the happiest then he would help Kiba get the happiness he deserved.

"I… I'm afraid," he whispered, sitting down on the floor and putting his elbows on top of his bent thighs, pushing his face into his forehead. Shino frowned, and Akamaru moved off of his lap and began licking Kiba's face, trying to reassure his master. Kiba didn't even smile at him; he simply pushed Akamaru away gently, his shoulders trembling slightly. Akamaru looked up at Shino, a bemused look on his furry face, which was emulated by the usually stoic and unusually confused Aburame.

"Why?" asked Shino, for once not having a bounty of answers or even knowing what the answer could really be.

"He left once." Kiba's voice was so uncharacteristically small; Shino had to strain to hear him. Kiba was acting shy, scared, confused—things he never acted like, at least in his romantic life. Kiba tended to have everything figured out. That was why he went to Kiba for advice sometimes, when he had problems with his own new-found relationship with one of Hinata's many cousins. Kiba always knew what to do, and so to see him like this, so broken, was disconcerting. Distressing. Worrying. For once, the sympathy he usually had for Sasuke due to Kiba's idiocy towards him was slightly less than the sympathy he currently had towards Kiba.

"So?" Shino found himself asking, needing Kiba to keep going.

"He left us all," he continued hesitantly, "He left everyone who cared about him in the pursuit of power. He didn't care about who he hurt. He didn't care that we almost died to get him back, to save him. I can't think to leave Konoha for a minute, and he left for years. I don't know how to leave. I can't do it. I'm loyal to Konoha and I can't leave. He isn't. He can leave whenever he wants. He can leave everyone who cares about him without any qualms. That means… that means he can leave me without problems. He doesn't need to reciprocate my feelings to hurt me. He can just by leaving again, and I know that nothing I say will stop him if he wants to leave, and I think about that, and that makes me want to stay away… so if and when it happens, I don't have to feel so much pain. I don't want to give him myself and risk the pain. It hurts without me doing that."

"So you'd rather live with regrets and always have to pretend to not be in love with him?" asked Shino, brows furrowing deeper than they were already. "It'll hurt either way, Kiba, you must know that. You're not stupid."

Kiba looked up with pain filled eyes. "He doesn't even _feel_ the same way as me, Shino. He's not in love with _me_. He hates me because he thinks I hate him, and I don't hate him and _motherfucker_!" He grabbed a shirt out of his half-packed bag and threw it across the room. "I don't know what to fucking do! I want him! Shino, I _want _to be his! I don't know why I can't just get it together when I'm near him. He makes me stupid and confused and weird and funny and good and safe and weak and strong and… and…" Kiba sighed angrily, his face turning red. "I hate this stupid fucking feeling!"

"Sounds like love," Shino replied with a half-sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "Just change his opinion of you, Kiba. Just change is opinion of you. Act the way you do around me."

Kiba stared at him. "I can't. I don't want to be just friends with Sasuke. All I want to do every time I see him is to…" His eyes glazed over, and Akamaru growled under his breath at him. He snapped out of it almost immediately, blushing more than he already was. "Sorry. B-But I can't just be friends with Sasuke. I need him more than just a friend."

Shino sighed. "I meant act friend_ly_. Be the person you are to everyone else. Be yourself, and try to see if Sasuke really hates you, like you think he does. Become friends with him. Become someone who matters. See if that becomes more. See if you want to be in a relationship with him after. But… Kiba, just stop feeling this pain. It's not necessary. You don't deserve it. You're a good person, and you deserve to be happy." Shino gave him a small smirk. "Besides, you never know. This mission is going to be long. Maybe you'll find everything works out."

Kiba snorted. "Yeah. Sure. Right. Okay, Shino. And then next I'll become the Hokage instead of Naruto."

Shino actually chuckled at that. Everyone seemed to have given up on trying on surpassing Naruto, hadn't they? Even Kiba had, though he seemed okay with giving up on becoming the Hokage someday, probably because Naruto would make a damned better one than he would, and he knew it.

"You never know, Kiba," Shino said, barely hiding his growing smile, "Life can be surprising sometimes, especially our life. You never know what could happen."

* * *

"'_Have faith in me… 'cause there are things that I've seen that I don't believe. So cling to what you know… and never let go. You should know, things aren't always what they seem.'_"

Vaguely, Obito knew he recognized the words to the song his mother used to sing to him, before his life had changed so drastically. He hadn't heard it in such a long time, but for reasons he, himself, did not understand, it made him feel safer. It pulled him from his dreams and into consciousness, giving him the strength, somehow, to face the day as he cracked open his eyes, blinking as his pupils began to focus in on his surroundings.

Even though it had been a long time, identifying his father's muscled body, even though it was mostly his back and shoulder that was to him, was more than easy enough. He smiled to himself, allowing himself to feel childish admiration for the older male sitting on the edge of his bed, his face turned away from him as he sung the old song his mother had often sung for him when he was often scared from some sort of nightmare. "'_I said I'd never let you go, and I never did. I said I'd never let you fall, and I always meant it. If you didn't have a chance, then I never did. You'll always find me right there, again'._"

Obito swallowed dryly and opened his mouth, the words to the song slowly, carefully. Though he knew the words by heart—they had been sung often enough for him to be able to, even at such a young age—he had never sung the words out loud, out of fear that he might break. However, in the safety of his father's presence, he was sure—pretty positive—that it was okay to allow himself this moment. "'_I've gone crazy… 'cause there are things in the streets I don't believe. So we'll pretend it's alright, and stay in for the night, what a world! I'll keep you safe here with me…'" _

"I was wondering if you'd be asleep any longer," said Shisui, turning slightly in the direction of his son, his hand reaching out and softly touching Obito's cheek. "I was worried that you were dead."

Obito gave a small chuckle, sitting up in his bed. "I didn't give you that big of a scare, did I?"

"No, you did," said Shisui, giving a soft, sardonic smile. "I think I lost a good two decades of my life because of that. And I don't mean right now. I mean before." Obito swallowed dryly and looked away, feeling guilty for having been in such a position. "I thought I'd lost you. I could barely 'see' you; your chakra signature was so low. I thought… I thought you really were going to die, and I felt so… powerless."

"Otō… I'm sorry…"

Shisui grabbed his son's hand expertly. "You've got nothing to apologize for. You can't be expected to never get hurt. I know that. What happened wasn't your fault, and I know that."

He shook his head. "It happened because I allowed myself to get drunk, and I had egged it on. I'd been staring…"

"It's perfectly natural. You're a teenaged boy with the hormones to match. Based on Jiraiya-sama's descriptions of them, if you haven't been staring, something would've been wrong with you. The only person I know that doesn't like staring at girls is Sasuke, and there is a specific reason for that." Obito chuckled, a soft smile touching his lips. Shisui had basically just confirmed for him that his suspicions on Sasuke's sexual preferences were correct. Well, that definitely made his more-than-obvious attraction Inuzuka Kiba, which he had observed several times before he'd left Konoha with Naruto, a hell of a lot less odd.

"Speaking of Jiraiya-sama… he tells me that you have certain… _proficiency _when it comes to the aiding of the writing of, well… porn. He appraised it, in fact." Obito turned scarlet now, eyes widening in embarrassment and mortification. "Not that I'm the kind of father who has the position to tell you what to do, but I must say… the idea that you help a fifty-year-old man write porn in your spare time makes me very uncomfortable, and I'm leaving it up to you to tell your aunt—because you know she'll have something to say about it."

Obito rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes landing anywhere but on his father. "I, um… it kinda just… _happened._ I…"

"I don't want details!" said Shisui, obviously flustered as he held up his hands, a crimson blush of his own on his face. "Just… it makes me uncomfortable. End of conversation."

"Please," agreed Obito, nodding empathetically, making Shisui chuckle in a mixture of surprise, embarrassment, mortification, and amusement. He moved his hand up to rub Obito's head, surprising him. Obito blinked and looked at his father, who was smiling brightly at him. "W-What?"

"I missed talking to you," Shisui unabashedly admitted, making Obito's blush grow tenfold. "It was always quite amusing; embarrassing you. Easy, yes. But it is fun. I consider it to be father-son bonding of the highest form."

Obito rolled his eyes, but his smile brightened. He was gifted with an amazing father. Despite Shisui's proclivity for heavily teasing him in the oddest of circumstances, he liked that he had a father willing to do it. He was happy his father didn't hate him for killing his mother. He was glad he understood that it was necessary, and that he was willing to overlook it so easily, despite the fact that his mother was the love of his father's life.

"I missed you, too," he replied warmly, grinning full-heartedly at his father. "I missed you, too, Otōsan."

* * *

One would think that because she had managed to successfully tell off the Hyūga clan advisory council just the night before, Hinata would be the happiest girl alive. She should have been jumping for joy for having stood up for herself in front of the men who had managed to make her father's life a living hell time and time again. She should have been glad that she finally made her own difference in the clan, before she even took the seat of the clan head, officially, on her twenty-first birthday. She should be glad that she had a reason to be glad at all, in fact. But she wasn't glad, at all.

She wasn't because she wasn't sure if she would make it to be heiress anymore—if she'd be alive to make it to that point.

Kabuto's lackeys had attacked the Nara compound last night, a fact she was made painfully aware of when missing-nin-turned-mercenary Suigetsu came in, asking for Neji. She'd forced him to explain, not why he needed Neji at a quarter to midnight, but why there was blood on his hands and his clothes—which he had, hesitantly. She had then found herself making her own way over to Shikamaru's, in order to make sure that Temari and Soyokaze were perfectly alright, as well as to make sure that Shikamaru wasn't damaged in some sort of way.

It wasn't that she thought Shikamaru couldn't handle death, but because he hadn't killed in a good few years, and he'd certainly _never _killed the way he had, according to Suigetsu. He seemed alright, but she could see that he was closing off quite a bit of emotion—a coping mechanism she hadn't seen in him since he started in ANBU. She knew there wasn't really anything she could do to help him; he'd have to work through his own issues. But she knew that Shikamaru was completely in the right, and she was happy that he chose to do it, though more than likely Tsunade might be pissed off about it. The intruder would've been killed anyways, but an informant lost is still an informant lost.

"Hinata."

The heiress blinked, not realizing she had been caught up in her own thoughts, and looked up from her plate, up into the concerned eyes of Kankurō. It occurred to her that he had been calling her name for several minutes, trying to get her attention, but it just wouldn't work. Unlike usual, she didn't force a fake smile—she didn't hide her feelings from Kankurō, not anymore. He'd earned the right to know exactly what she was thinking, what she was feeling.

"How worried?" he asked softly.

"Very," she admitted with a sigh, putting down her chopsticks. Eating was the last thing on her mind. Kankurō had, in celebration of her ripping the council a new one, chosen to take her to breakfast that day, which she was very much appreciative of. Sadly, she couldn't keep focused—her worry for Shikamaru (and her own status) was taking the forefront of her mind. "I'm worried he'll come after us again. I'm worried he'll try to take me again, for whatever new twisted reason he may have. And… I'm worried he'll try to kill you again, Kankurō. I don't want that to happen. I don't want to lose you."

He got up from his seat, walking around the booth and slipping in next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He put his cheek on the top of her head, gently stroking her side. His presence next to her was reassuring, but not nearly enough for her to completely stop worrying. Nothing short of Kabuto's head on a silver platter would stop her from worrying about this.

"I'm not gonna let any of that happen, hime," he said, "I told you before, and I'll tell you again; I'm going to protect you any way I can. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. I'll do anything to keep you safe."

"What about yourself?" she asked, looking up into Kankurō's face.

He gave a small smirk. "Well, as _you_ tell _me_ time and time again… that's why I have you. I know you'll have my back, and I'll have yours."

She smiled gently as well, feeling her bad mood dissipate. "And… anyone else who needs protection… what about them?"

He chuckled gently, saying, "You're talking about _our _friends, Hinata. Trust me; there are more than enough of our friends for me to confidently say that we've all pretty much got each other's backs. If something happens, like before… we'll raise hell. The last thing we'll ever do is bend over, shove our heads in the dirt, and let Kabuto take whatever he wants. No, if he comes after us… we'll take him out."

"I couldn't have said it any better myself."

Hinata flinched, looking away from Kankurō to see Kakashi standing behind them, arms crossed over his chest. Hinata grinned widely, and the Copy Nin smiled behind his mask, walking to the now-empty side of Hinata and Kankurō's booth. "Saw you two; thought I might pop in and say hello. Well actually, Hayato did, but I agreed."

"Where is Little Scarecrow?" asked Kankurō, pulling his plate of food over to him, giving up on ever moving back to his original side of the booth. Besides, he liked feeling Hinata next to him. Her presence was assuring. Truthfully speaking, he was a little bit shaken by the events last night—after all, he did almost lose his precious little nephew—and it was Kabuto who'd been behind it, a man who wanted to use _his _Hinata for his own devious exploitations and kill him. Knowing he was around and ready to play had him more than a little bit jumpy. He put his arm around her waist, his grip tight, maybe too tight, but he didn't care, and Hinata didn't seem to notice. He was afraid to even blink. He'd lost her once to Kabuto, and he wasn't ready to repeat the experience. He refused to repeat the experience.

"Convincing that waitress over there to bring him free food," said Kakashi with a chuckle, pointing. Hinata had to crane her neck in order to see the small eight-year-old working his innocent, boyish charms on an unsuspecting member of the wait staff, who was no match for the boy. She never stood a chance. "Hopefully, he's not using any genjutsu, but I can't be sure. Ever since I taught him the basics, he's been using it left and right. He's actually taken to stealing things—small things, like fruits, hard candies and cheap toys."

"Things you have no issue on letting him keep," chastised Hinata, smiling. She knew that Kakashi was in no way forcing him to put them back, much like her father hadn't when she had taken to doing the exact same thing. Most shinobi parents didn't, but it was a constant source of humor amongst the population. They all teased each other often about the use of genjutsu for personal gain, especially on the topic of their children using it. It was against the rules to steal with genjutsu, but it was a rule broken often—stealing was the best way to practice a genjutsu as a young child; they all knew it. Besides, if a child could get away with it, then the shop owner deserved to be swindled.

Kakashi shrugged. "He is going to be a shinobi when he grows up. Sometimes, a shinobi has to steal while on missions, whether for the objective or for sustenance. As long as he knows not to steals things like televisions or microwaves, or tries to convince someone to give him an apartment for free, I think he'll be okay. But, don't worry; I've put my foot down on occasion. He understands his limitations. He knows not to draw attention towards himself."

Hinata smiled. "He is a smart boy."

"Very." He, and the other two shinobi present, continued to watch the eight-year-old with great amusement. "I'm going to induct him into my clan soon, I think."

Hinata frowned, turning back to him. "I thought you said that you were going to wait until he was older to do that."

"I was," agreed Kakashi, "But then Shikamaru's house was invaded last night, so I think I need to do it early. And… I'd like to give you two the protection of my clan." Kankurō blinked, turning around and, like his girlfriend, staring at him. _What protection? _both shinobi thought, but didn't make their thoughts verbal. "I know you can summon the dogs already, Hinata, but… an extra protection wouldn't harm anyone. And since you're hers, technically, Kankurō, the same protection would be given to you. I'm also giving it to Naruto, and to Sasuke, when he gets back."

"Back?" Hinata's worry began to rise afresh. Added to the worry that Kabuto was coming for her, and the incredibly vagueness that Kakashi was giving in his words; news of Sasuke leaving the village was incredibly worrisome. "Why did he leave?"

"He was given a mission with Inuzuka Kiba. Itachi's with Hana. They're spreading out, trying to see if they can find Kabuto anywhere. They have a lead," said Kakashi, his own voice laced with worry.

"But… why didn't Tsunade come to me? I could've helped!" Hinata blurted, eyebrows creasing. And Kiba was gone to? Kiba was thrown into danger? And _both _Uchiha were out chasing the same guy? It was like Konoha was throwing Kabuto a freaking present! The Sharingan on a silver-fucking-platter!

Kankurō growled under his breath. "You're kidding me, right, hime?"

Kakashi's eyebrow twitched. He could see where Kankurō's irritation lay as plain as day. He said, slowly, "Hinata, you have other things to deal with. Sasuke doesn't. Kabuto also isn't nearly as interested in Sasuke as he is in you. He was always more of Orochimaru's prize. You're his. You're reasonably safe here."

"But… he might try to kill Sasuke! He's a psycho! He wanted Sasuke once; what'll stop him from wanting him again?!" she asked, her voice indicating that her panic was steadily growing.

"Love, Sasuke can handle it," said Kankurō in a gentler voice, "And he's got Kiba and Akamaru with him. Kiba would do whatever he can to keep him alive, even though he 'hates' him." He smirked softly at that—he was only being sarcastic. He could see as plain as day that Kiba might as well be a blushing, nervous teenaged girl near Sasuke, though he did his best to hide it. It was too obvious to be hidden. He was in love with Sasuke, and he was too blind to see that Sasuke was in love with him, too. "Sasuke has the skills of an ANBU operative. He's strong."

Kakashi opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a loud "Otō". The three shinobi immediately stopped their topic of conversation as the eight-year-old ran up, climbing into the booth besides his father. Hayato grinned widely up at his father, proud of himself as he whispered, "They're bringing us food, Otō! I didn't even have to use genjutsu this time!"

Kakashi, a true actor, hid his worry towards the predicament currently in conversation and gave his son his famous eye smile. "Good job."

Hayato nodded, turning to the other two shinobi. "Hinata-neechan, did you see me? Kankurō-kun, did she see me?"

"Yeah, she saw you, Scarecrow," said Kankurō, smirking. He didn't really like most kids, but he'd have to admit: Hayato was beyond amusing. He liked him. "Though, I bet that could've been handled a lot better if you had a second kid with you."

Hayato frowned. "What second kid?"

"Well, if you had a puppet, asking that question would be redundant."

He giggled now. "Kankurō-kun, I _still_ don't want a puppet!"

"You'd be good at it, I swear. It's easy."

Kankurō easily and intentionally diverted Hayato's attention away from Hinata, allowing her to silently think through the conversation they had just had with Kakashi. She was worried about Sasuke—not that he couldn't handle himself, but because she was just worried something might happen that was just not something he could handle. Sasuke was only human, after all; he couldn't handle absolutely everything. Kabuto would not make it easy for him, at all. She looked up at Kakashi, who was watching her with a serious dark grey eye. One look told her everything—he felt the same way, and, if it came down to it, he would get into his ANBU uniform right alongside Hinata in order to get him out of trouble and bring him back to Konohagakure.

That was soothing enough for her, for now.

* * *

If Fuki had learned one thing over the years, it was that she deeply hated allowing herself to be pushed around or manipulated. She'd always been a freer, more independent sort of spirit who had her own ideas and opinions about what she should do, or what she should believe. That was why, after the Academy days, she promptly ditched that pompous _bitch, _Ami, and decided to focus more on who she was, because, at that point, she didn't truly know. She'd spent so long just following Ami that she'd never figured out the kind of person she was. She'd learned so many cutesy little jutsus because Ami liked them, and spent so much time just trying to please her, that her own development was immensely stunted.

What she found about herself, after dumping Ami, and after another year at the Academy trying to become a Genin, was that she liked to use Water Release ninjutsu techniques, as well as a varying degree of weaponry and general tactical thinking. Her seemingly natural capability to use a variety of weapons and to think her way through situations moved her through the ranks quickly. Before she truly knew it… she'd become an ANBU operative.

She was proud of herself, for her progress through the ranks since her Academy days. She'd come far, she knew, further than her parents had figured she would ever get. They didn't have much faith in her (actually, that was putting it mildly, they used to beat her because she wasn't the child they'd wanted), when it came to anything, but she stopped letting it get to her. She did her best to just… live. It'd work out for her, in the long run, she believed. It had to.

"Good job, Wolf," said her teammates, Eagle and Fox. Behind her mask, she smiled—she much appreciated their approval of her skills on a mission; it was important to her. Thanks to them, she'd gotten far in ANBU. They'd become her closest friends.

"Daichi, we're home; you can call me by my name," Fuki said with a giggle, pushing her porcelain wolf's mask up and off her face, pushing down her gravity-defying red locks. Daichi chuckled, pulling off his eagle mask and tying it to his belt, his dark blue hair plastered down to his forehead due to sweat, hiding the Hyūga clans' curse mark upon his forehead. Daichi was tall, much taller than she was. His nearly white eyes had been dead when they'd first met three years ago, and now, slowly, they'd awakened, and he began to live again—which she was glad for, as his odd sense of humor often made her days.

Takeshi took off his own mask wordlessly, shaking his head at his two teammates, a small smile on his lips. Takeshi was a quieter one than the two of them, unexpectedly. His hair was bright green, his eyes bright yellow—he screamed _obnoxious and loud. _Oddly, except for physical appearance, he was neither of the two things. "At least we're done," Takeshi said in his soft voice, placing the mask sideways on his head so it pushed his hair off to the right side. "We get to rest for couple of days."

Fuki nodded in agreement, stretching her muscles with a loud, long yawn, her taut stomach peeking out from underneath her undone armor vest. Something patted her head, pushing down heavily on her mask. Frowning, she stopped stretching, turning around. A taller ANBU, by the codename of Gorilla (a truly fitting name, if you asked her) stood behind her, his broad arms slowly crossing over his chest. "Tsunade-sama needs the three of you in her office, full uniform."

Daichi frowned. "We just got in."

"She knows. She told me to tell you to get there ASAP. You know what that means. It means haul ass, 'cause she's impatient as hell." The three younger ANBU groaned, pulling their masks back over their faces as they abandoned the ANBU headquarters, running at full speed to make it out and get to Tsunade in only a few minutes. She was incredibly impatient, but she did give a little bit of leeway when a team was literally _just _getting into Konohagakure.

They ran past a flustered-seeming Shizune, not bothering to say hello, or to really focus on anything but avoiding plowing into her in their haste. Usually, they would say something polite, but they honestly didn't have the time to do so. They didn't know how long they kept Tsunade waiting, and to keep Tsunade waiting for any amount of time other than sixty seconds was a very bad thing. Takeshi was the first to the door, holding it open for his two companions so they wouldn't waste any more time, getting into position in front of their impatient Hokage who, on a close, but brief inspection, indeed looked pissed off, lending Fuki to believe they'd kept her waiting a _very _long time.

"About damned time you three got here," growled Tsunade, much to Fuki's own irritation. "Remove your damned masks. I want to talk face-to-face." Knowing better than to argue about protocol, Takeshi moved behind the desk, quickly closing all the curtains before returning to his former position, the three of them moving in unison to remove their animal masks, crouching down in front of Tsunade. "Stand up. You're too late to be thinking about some damned formality." The three shinobi shrugged, returning to their former positions, their shoulders sagging slightly. Yup. She was pissed. "I've got a new assignment for the three of you." Fuki did her best to hold back her complaints, and she would admit out loud when she wasn't in front of Tsunade—it was very, _very _hard of her to do.

"Hokage-sama, with absolutely no disrespect meant towards you, but we've only just gotten in from our last dispatch assignment from the Land of Rice Fields," Takeshi said, noticing his two teammate's looks of disdain towards their Hokage. "We thought we were getting our week of time in order to rejuvenate completely."

"I understand you completely, Takeshi, but this assignment is nothing the three of you cannot handle," said Tsunade, nodding at him. "It's a simple mission, honestly. It's not even A-class."

"It must be important, though, if you're having ANBU agents take care of this," said Daichi, frowning. "So what is it?"

Tsunade sighed. "Guarding. I need—each of you—to guard important people. That is your mission. There are three in total—and then there are three of you." She yawned, pulling out a set of three scrolls. "These scrolls are detailed with your missions. I don't want to hear you whine, or bitch, about the person you've received as your guarding detail. I've had a busy-as-hell day, and I don't need to hear anything else." Daichi, Takeshi, and Fuki all looked between the three of them, their eyebrows furrowed. What exactly had happened while they were gone?

Well, as they were about to find out… a hell of a lot.

* * *

"It appears the Uchiha Avenger has left Konoha."

Kabuto looked up from the body he was currently dissecting, turning to look at the messenger behind him, who quivered in fear of the possible reaction Kabuto could give. Kabuto had real issues controlling his emotions, ever since he'd injected some of Orochimaru's DNA into his own genetic code. The deep and troubling psychosis that was Orochimaru did not mix well with anyone, and especially not the already deeply troubled mind that was Yakushi Kabuto.

Thankfully enough, Kabuto seemed to contain his anger. "Is that right? Why has he done that?"

"I'm unsure of the details, but he left with what appeared to be a tracker nin. Judging by the facial marks; an Inuzuka tracker."

"Hmm. Interesting. Keep me updated. I want to know where he is at all times. And what of the Heiress?"

"She is still in Konoha, and it appears she is under heavy watch-and-guard, Kabuto-sama."

Kabuto resisted the urge to chuckle. They were onto him, weren't they? They seemed to just know that she was his main target. That was why she was exempt from this phase of his planning. The other pieces he needed were knights, bishops, silver generals, golden generals, and rooks. Easily replaceable pieces, as Konoha didn't have a lack of them. But her… she was a dragon king. She was a promoted rook, and possibly a dragon horse as well. She was a precious piece, a piece that didn't get played around with carelessly. She was a piece he needed, and a piece he would make sure to have, through whatever means necessary.

"Keep a careful eye on her; I can't afford her getting away from me," he said, "Tell me what happened at the Nara compound."

"The Two-Tails killed the pawn, sir, like you said it would, but the seal does not seem to have affected him. He's perfectly fine. Nothing like you said would happen happened." The messenger's eyes looked doubtful, and Kabuto could see easily that he wanted to blame Naito for the lack of success. If Kabuto were him, he would, too; but he knew that Naito would never dare something so bold and stupid. Naito may hate him, but he was also smartly afraid of him, too.

"It isn't Naito's fault. The seal only works for some people, not all. Thinking it would work for the Two-Tails was a stretch on my part, admittedly. Keep going on with the plan. It's bound to work with someone. I trust your superior has begun with the charts for those involved with the invasion?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. When he's done, I want you to send him straight to me. I need word about it so I can coordinate a plan of attack myself."

"On Konoha, sir?"

"No. Your superior can handle Konoha. I have some place much different in mind for myself. You are dismissed."

* * *

_**Kakashi means scarecrow. When I have Kankuro call Hayato 'Little Scarecrow', it's therefore a play on Kakashi's name and on their physical similarities; Kankuro is calling Hayato a near double of Kakashi. **_

_**The song I used is A Day to Remember's 'Have Faith in Me', which has its influence on different parts of the story. **_

_**I have writer's block. So many ideas and no ability to write them down. I'm overstressed and my will to write is disappearing. I'm angry at my family, myself, and my lack of control over my life. **_

_**I'm back again to being disappointed in the lack of reviews, not only here, but in The Ripple Effect. It makes me feel like I suck. Not that I don't appreciate Favorites and Follows, they make me smile, but nothing brightens my day like a review, and considering how my week's been heading, with my shitty family dynamic, I'd like a day-brightener. **_

_**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. **_


	12. Chapter 11: Nature

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!_**

* * *

_NATURE _

_/'nāCH__ər__/_

_the phenomena of the physical world collectively; the basic of inherent features of something, especially when seen as a characteristic of it; the innate or essential qualities or character of a person or animal. _

* * *

The fading sunlight made its way through the leaves, each one sparkling with the orange light of the waning sun. Some of the sunlight was stopped by the trees, but most of it managed to make it to the ground in small spots, allowing the two shinobi moving quietly on the forest floor to be able to tell how late it was getting. They had been walking through the forest for hours now, moving slow as for the leading ninja to analyze the smells of his surroundings without wasting needless chakra over-sensitizing his already-sensitive nose. Akamaru had already been pushed ahead; his nose ten times stronger than his own, and therefore left him alone with quiet ninja behind him, whose simple presence was throwing him nearly off-kilter.

Kiba flicked a glance at the raven-haired shinobi, whose attention was turned more to the surrounding trees rather than him, something that bothered Kiba. They were finally alone, with no one around to yell at them if they argued, and he was saying… nothing. It wasn't that it wasn't a good thing—it let him focus—but he hated that Sasuke didn't even seem the least bit interested in talking to him. It was probably what bothered him the most about the Uchiha; his callous attitude. He wanted to hate it, but he couldn't. It was what made him delightfully _Sasuke_.

He didn't really hate any part of Sasuke. It wasn't possible for him anymore; he'd tried. What he hated was his own inability to let go of the fact that Sasuke had, at one time, been a traitor to Konoha, and allow himself to embrace his feelings and actually admit to them. Shino was right. He really wanted to confess to Sasuke, to become someone of value to Sasuke. Maybe Shino was right about anything could happen. Maybe Sasuke could feel the same way…

_Oh, who am I kidding?_ _Of course Sasuke doesn't feel the same way as I do_, he thought, sighing unhappily to himself as he ran a hand through his coarse hair. Sasuke had both genders lining up for a chance to see him. The last thing he needed was to become some other fan—though the idea he would be just another part of Sasuke's fan-base bothered him immensely. He didn't want to be Sasuke's whore. He wanted to be Sasuke's priority.

Besides, he'd been spending the last few years being a total ass to Sasuke. Who was he to just turn around and confess his undying love? Damn, he felt ridiculous just _thinking_ of the idea. He knew that doing something so idiotic would probably give him his full hatred. No, he was better off just trying to get into Sasuke's head that he wasn't as much of an ass he made himself out to be—yes, that was it! He'd slowly make himself into a friend, like Shino had also suggested. If he couldn't be with Sasuke, then he'd have to settle for just friends—it was better than being nothing at all.

At least, that was what he told himself.

Meanwhile, being on a mission alone with Kiba was quickly proving to be the most painful venture Sasuke had ever experienced. It wasn't physically painful—though, that right hook to the jaw Kiba had given him earlier on in the day did hurt a hell of a lot—but it was painful. He didn't know how to describe what he was feeling other than as emotional pain. It made every little thing Kiba was doing that much worse, whether it was being himself or it was keeping focused on the mission on hand.

The worst part about it was that Sasuke didn't want to stop feeling this way. It was better than pretending not to have feelings for him at all; that was for damned sure. And it was _infinitesimally _better than exchanging insults to one another, which there had been a surprising and reassuring lack of as so far, save for a small fight they'd had before they'd split up from Hana and Itachi in order to search the southern borders of the Land of Fire, which ended with Sasuke getting decked by a furious Kiba. What the fight was even about, Sasuke couldn't remember, but he knew that Kiba wasn't exactly keen to talk to him since he was pushed to punch him.

What had Naruto told him to do in order to get his feelings known to Kiba? Be himself? He was always himself—that was the problem. He was an asshole, and Kiba hated that. _No, I think he meant the person I am when I'm around HIM,_ Sasuke thought, holding back a groan. He didn't know how to be that guy around anyone else beside Naruto and his family (which, to him, was almost one and the same), not anymore. The person he usually was formed out of defense, right after his family was killed, but the person Naruto had meant was his true self, the one without any sort of guard over his emotions. But, if he was that person around anyone else but family, he was just asking to get hurt by somebody. Did he want that person to be Kiba, who he loved more than life itself? No. He'd rather Kiba hated him than to open up and risk getting hurt.

Kiba sniffed once more before stopping, pulling his pack off of his back and giving a long, loud whistle that had Sasuke's ears pounding. He crouched down, pulling a generous amount of provisions from his pack and laying them on the ground next to his pack. "You set up the tent, I'll deal with the general set up until Akamaru gets here with the firewood," he said, not sparing the Uchiha heir one look. Sasuke was sure that it was because he hated looking at him (really, Kiba was thinking about the sweat that seemed to make him glow like some fucking _model_), which he took in stride, pulling off his own pack and pulling out the tent kit, beginning the quick and easy set-up. Within minutes, he had the tent fully erected, and structurally sound, and was setting up the bedrolls in the furthest corners away from each other, for Kiba's sake. He knew that Kiba would prefer to be able to ignore him, if possible, and he also knew better than to have a small hope that Kiba wouldn't mind closeness.

Sasuke left the tent, looking up at the setting sun. When he was younger, the setting sun was both a blessing and a curse. It meant the end of another day of loneliness. But, then again, it meant the beginning of another night of being alone. The feeling of not belonging stuck to Sasuke, even all these years later, when he wasn't alone anymore, because he still felt that way. The only person he'd ever really connected with was Naruto, who shared his loneliness and understood it. Naruto was the only person who, when he was around, Sasuke felt like he wasn't some total fuck-up. Around Naruto, the nights and days didn't seem so daunting anymore.

His heart wanted to feel the same way around Kiba. There were a few times in which he actually did, but… those moments were few and far between, sadly. He'd already resigned himself to a fate that did not include the Inuzuka, as much as it bothered him to think that way. After all, Kiba hated him, didn't he? He hated him, which he had all the reason in the world to do. He was a traitor to Konoha. He'd caused nights of misery for Kiba. He'd even almost caused Kiba's early death, back when they were thirteen.

"Why are you just staring at the sun?" Sasuke blinked, looking back down at Kiba, who was frowning at him. "Are you delusional or something? Or are you sick? If you're sick, then you really shouldn't be on this mission."

"I'm fine," said Sasuke defensively, frowning and returning his gaze to the sky. "It's about seven o'clock right now, I think. The sun should be setting in another thirty minutes to an hour."

Kiba flicked his eyes up to look at the sky. "You can tell the time by the position of the sun?" he asked incredulously. Internally, he was slightly jealous—he'd never learned how to tell time like that. He always had to put a stick on the ground and look at the shadow to figure out the general time, or even more simply carry the small pocket watch currently at the bottom of his pocket. To see Sasuke able to was actually quite cool, and a hell of a lot more helpful than randomly stopping and shoving a kunai or a broken branch into the ground.

"Yeah. My older brother taught me when I was younger," Sasuke informed him, sighing as he sat down on the ground next to Kiba's open pack of food. "It's quite easy, actually."

"Is it?" Kiba asked uncertainly, doing his best to avoid saying anything offensive towards Sasuke, which he did notice—he was so used to Kiba's verbal abuse that he just expected it now. Sasuke nodded, his eyes leaving the sky in order to look at Kiba, his eyes taking in every detail of the calm face he rarely got to see.

"Well," said Kiba awkwardly, sitting down next to Sasuke, much to his surprise, "While I wait for Akamaru, do you mind teaching me? It'd be much easier for both of us if we can both tell the time, that way I don't keep bothering you asking for it."

Sasuke frowned, noting the discrepancy immediately. "You didn't really ask me for it today, Kiba," he noted slowly, looking into Kiba's eyes.

_Not my point! _"I-I know. But I've done it before," Kiba lied, his small blush thankfully hidden by the fang tattoos on his cheeks. "It bugs Shino when I do it." Also not true—Shino read the time the same way he did. It was the way Kurenai had taught them to read time while out on missions, if they didn't have a watch, which they usually didn't.

Sasuke seemed to accept the information (though he knew it was a crock of shit) nodding and swallowing before he pointed upwards. He knew Kiba was lying, but he was also glad that he wanted him to talk to him about something—anything—without an argument or a derogatory term.

"Well, you know that the sun moves from east to west, right?" he asked. Kiba nodded, his dark eyes filled with curiosity. "Well, directly up in the center of the sky… that's twelve PM. That's a constant. Sunlight hours, until December, last from 5 AM or so until 8 PM. So, that means that the horizon on the furthest left side is 5 AM, and the horizon on furthest right side is 8 PM." Sasuke dug his finger into the dirt, drawing a long, horizontal line in front of them, and putting x's in the places he described. "So, do you understand that?"

Kiba nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I get it."

"Right. So the way my brother taught me was that he made it into half a circle for me," said Sasuke, connecting the three points by a long arch. "From there, you can just put the numbers wherever you want, but generally, seven o'clock would be about here, in this area, before the right-side x." He dragged his finger across the dirt, to the middle of the horizontal line he'd drawn, creating a small slice out of the half-circle he'd crated. "My brother made it into half a pie to explain it in full detail, but I… I dunno how to explain this fully. But… do you basically get it?"

Kiba nodded, his brow creasing slightly as he leaned forwards, touching his finger to a spot half-way between noon and 8. "So… would this be four PM, here?" Sasuke nodded as Kiba moved his finger over to the midpoint between 5 AM and noon, crossing over Sasuke's lap slightly. "And this… would be, what, eight or nine?"

"Just about," said Sasuke, trying not to focus on the fact that Kiba's hand was nearly touching his leg. If he just moved it a little… no. He resisted the urge to brush his leg against Kiba's arm. He may be acting civil to him now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take offense to something like that. Knowing Kiba, he'd probably punch him again in irritation. "But yeah. It'd be the general area of eight o'clock, nine o'clock, Kiba." Kiba looked up at him, smiling at him… wait. Kiba was _smiling _at him. _Holy shit. What a perfect smile. Such a perfectly sexy smile. _

"I get it!" said Kiba excitedly, acting like a little kid. He caught himself and blushed—something that made Sasuke's blood rush to his groin—and picked himself up, his heat no longer over his lap. "Well, I get the theory. It's the application where I lack when it comes to the shit I learn. Can you show me in full detail tomorrow, do you think? You know, show me by pointing up at the sun's positioning."

Sasuke promptly found his sandal interesting. "Ah… yeah, sure. That wouldn't be an issue. I mean, if it'll help the mission," he said, stretching and fixing the strap on his shoe, trying to hide his own blush. He felt Kiba move next to him, but he didn't truly realize the extent of his movements until he sat back up, nearly slamming his forehead against his. Sasuke's heart pounded in his chest, his eyes widening. _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck_, he repeated in his head like a mantra.

_He's so close! I didn't mean to get this fucking close! What the fuck is happening? Why aren't I pulling away from him? He doesn't even fucking LIKE me! What the fuck am I trying to do?! _Kiba mentally panicked, his own heartbeat kicking up notch by notch. He'd only been trying to become friends with him! Why did he lose himself and allow himself to invade Sasuke's personal space? And why wasn't he pulling away? Why wasn't he resisting himself? He didn't want to freak Sasuke out by making an assumption!

Sasuke, on his part, had become the perfect impersonation of a statue, save for his thudding heart. He wasn't sure what to do, or how to react. He already knew Kiba liked guys, so he knew that kissing him wouldn't be _that _odd, but he also believed that Kiba didn't really like him, so kissing him would probably act to just piss him off again and throw out that progress he was sure they'd made. But he really wanted to—damn it all, how he wanted to kiss Kiba. He'd wanted to since he was sixteen years old.

"Um… Akamaru might be on his way back," muttered Kiba, pulling back from Sasuke. Sasuke swallowed, his breath slowly returning to him as his mind caught up with exactly what was happening. He pulled back himself, blinking as he overcame the shock of being so close to Kiba and nodding in agreement, standing up and moving away from Kiba. He knew that Kiba hadn't said anything about him getting away from him, but he was smart enough to make the assumption by himself.

"The tent's set up. You can go to sleep anytime you want; I'll take watch," Sasuke said, keeping his back to Kiba to avoid him from seeing his hot blush. "You need to get a hell of a lot more sleep than I do, so sleep for as long as you can. I'll wake you up when I need to go to sleep myself, but I won't be asleep that long."

"You need sleep, too," said Kiba, frowning at the fact that Sasuke was seemingly… hiding from him.

"Not as much as you might," said Sasuke, turning slightly to Kiba, carefully guarding his emotions. He didn't want Kiba to say anything about the moment that seemed like it was about to happen between them. He didn't want Kiba to tell him his possible dislike for the situation. They were actually getting along and he wasn't ready to just throw that away. "Just tell me when Akamaru gets here. I'll be sharpening my weapons, okay? Anything wrong; just whistle to me, like you whistled to Akamaru."

"Ah… sure. Sure, yeah," said Kiba, unable to stop his blush from blossoming again. _He's not gonna make any of this easy for me, is he? _Kiba wondered as Sasuke nodded, turning and making his way into the tent they were going to share. Kiba sighed and ran his hand through his hair. _I have a lot to work on…_

* * *

Obito wondered, to himself, if he would feel any different having been in Konohagakure after four years. He had wondered if he would feel unfamiliar with the area; like he wouldn't remember his way around due to the fact he'd spent so much time in so many different places. He had wondered if things would just feel different, after being gone for so long, or if people would change even slightly. It turned out that his worry was more than slightly unfounded—on multiple accounts, it seemed.

The eyes still didn't change.

Not everyone knew what he was but as human beings, they could just sense how different he was from all of them. It'd always been that way. The people of Konoha seemed to have a second sense for sensing things that could be monstrous, and they followed their sense down to the letter. They gave him the look, one of completely unfounded hatred and disgust, and it still made him feel like the scum of the earth.

He didn't blame them, not a one of them, for the looks he was getting. He didn't try to fight it; to argue with them or scream at them. It would get him absolutely nothing, except a migraine from beating his head against a brick wall. The best way to get these people to change their minds about how they thought about him was to prove it to them, by showing them how much he had changed over the few years. Sure, the looks hadn't changed, but he would change them. He made the promise to himself to change those looks.

"Are you really interested in spending time with me and a kid?" Temari asked as Obito snapped out of his thoughts, giving the giggling Soyokaze a small jiggle.

Temari liked Obito—he was a sweet kid who never wanted anyone close to him getting hurt, and would do anything to keep friends safe; something Temari definitely respected in a person—but he seemed very… off-focused. She could understand that. They hardly knew each other, but she had seen him just standing in his old bedroom, looking dazed, and she decided he looked too pitiful for her to allow him being alone. Since she was going out anyways, she'd figured she would bring him along, and let him get to know Soyokaze. The problem was that he was really unfocused. She wasn't sure if he was really ready to be walking around right now, because it was almost like he was still delirious.

"Sorry, Temari-chan, I was just thinking," he said, smiling sweetly at her as Soyokaze began to play with the strings of his oversized sweatshirt, which Sasuke had told him he was required to wear until he was absolutely sure his sickness was completely gone. Obito knew better than to go against Sasuke, so he wore the black, oversized, comfortable and warm Uchiha-crested sweatshirt over his usual mesh armor tank top, his headband tied around his neck.

"Why don't ya have Otō's crest, Obi?" asked Soyokaze, frowning up at his older cousin.

"I do have it. But I have other crests," he said, turning his attention down to the toddler. They were walking down the market, while Temari picked up groceries for Yoshino. Obito was basically keeping Soyokaze busy for her, which she appreciated greatly of him. "I'm from different several different clans."

Soyokaze's brow furrowed. "What's… a clan, Obi?"

"A clan… it's… it's a family," said Obito slowly, brow furrowing as he thought of how to describe it with the simplest terms possible, for the young boy in his arms. "Clans share ideas, beliefs, and customs."

Soyokaze only seemed to get more confused. "What's a custom?"

He swallowed. "It's… a way of doing things. Your clan… you've seen your father playing with the shadows sometimes, right, and your grandfather too? Well, that's the clan's customs, the shadow-playing jutsus."

"Y-Yea… you do that too, Obi?"

"Yes. I know how to do it. I don't do it often, but I can."

"Will I's too?"

"Yes, because you're in the family. You were born into the clan."

"Was you?"

"…No. No, I was adopted into it."

"Oh." Soyokaze frowned slightly more. "Why? Didja ask?"

"I didn't ask, but I wanted to be in it."

"Why?" Soyokaze asked innocently.

Why? "Because… because Ojii wanted me to, and Ojii means a lot to me, Soyo-kun. I wanted to make Ojii happy, so I joined the clan."

"But what about Sui-Oji?" he asked, blue eyes wide. Obito already knew that Soyokaze had met his father—he'd entertained him every time Temari, Yoshino, Shikaku and Shikamaru had dragged him to the Uchiha compound while Obito was still bedridden. Soyokaze was already calling him his uncle. "Was he mad at you, for not going into his clan?"

"No. He was proud of me, Soyo. He was proud that I honored my ties, even if he might've wished that I went into his clan," said Obito, "And your father would feel the very same way if something like that happened with you. He loves you, and he'd respect whatever choice you made—though, I'm pretty sure he'd like it better if you one day took over after him."

He meant every word he said, but he couldn't help but feel the least bit sad as he said it. He had no actual claim to anything of the Uchiha, not just because he didn't join the clan, but because he when he was born, he was illegitimate—neither the Senju nor Uchiha had wanted him, and while he liked being a part of the Nara, he knew he was an outcast in it, basically. He wasn't a deer by birth. He was… nothing. He was absolutely nothing. He had no claims to make.

Soyokaze nodded, and wrapped his small arms around Obito's neck. "I'm sorry you're so lonely."

Obito's eyes widened. "Huh? W-What?" he stuttered.

"I sees it," said Soyokaze innocently, pulling back slightly to look Obito in the eyes. "You're lonely. Don't be lonely. I'll be your friend, Obi-kun… Obi-nii. Please don't be lonely. I don't want you to be lonely." He placed his head on Obito's shoulder. "Can you sing to me, like Oji said you can? He singed for me when I was sleepy, and I saw him singing for you. Can you sing for me?"

"I, uh…" Obito looked up from the little boy in his arms to look up at his mother, who turned from the desert fruits that were freshly imported from Suna, giving him a reassuring smile and nodding at him. He nodded to her, returning his full attention to the child in his arms. "Um… what do you want to hear?"

"I's dunno, anything," said the young boy, sighing contently.

"Okay," he said, sighing to himself as he racked his mind, trying to search for a song. He didn't want to sing the song his mother used to sing to him—it was a personal song. "I can… I can hum for you, Soyo. That okay?"

"Yes, aniki," he said with a content sigh. Obito smiled at him, rubbing Soyokaze's back on instinct, beginning to hum lowly, intending for only the toddler to hear him. As his comfort with the situation grew, he began to gain volume, allowing himself to be heard by Temari, who smiled at the melody. Obito's voice, even if it was just a hum, was filled with grace and beauty that she'd never heard before in any voice. It was also filled with loneliness, sadness—he'd known suffering before in his life; it was obvious. But it was also filled with such a capacity to love, to be happy, to have hopes and aspirations. It asked for a second chance, and she wanted to give it to him. Soyokaze smiled, the display of happiness taking up a most of his face. It filled Temari with so much happiness to see her son happy, even with some simple thing such as a hum.

Obito didn't realize how much volume his voice was gaining, and he didn't realize how many people could hear him. The people passing him smiled in contentment, happy to hear him. He didn't notice anyone, actually, losing himself in music. It was an escape for him, an escape that was the last remaining thing from his mother that he actually wanted. His love for it showed, and anyone could hear it.

Anyone—every passing person—could hear it, some more than others. A girl with dark brown hair passed, her pale lilac eyes showing her interest. She'd never heard his voice before in all the time she'd known him, but… it was truly beautiful. Her blush grew along with her smile, watching Obito with the young boy, watching him please the child so easily. It was wondrous, truly wondrous. She was going to approach him, but she didn't want this moment to end, either. She always had other moments to do that. So, instead of bothering him, Hanabi continued forwards, a small smile on her face as she walked away, looking at Obito with the child until she had to turn the corner, and leave them alone.

It was easy for Obito not to notice her, but Temari did just as easily; and she smiled softly at the moment that Obito didn't even realize had passed.

* * *

If Uzumaki Naruto had learned one thing in all the years of his being an orphan hated by practically every person he'd ever met before in his life, he'd learned how to be able to keep his emotions under tight wraps. He was good at letting no one see the full brunt of what he was feeling, keeping them almost completely hidden. There were, admittedly, a few moments when it just became impossible for him to keep them completely hidden at all times—this moment becoming one of those all too easily.

Tsunade wasn't completely sure how to take the moment, actually. He hadn't reacted in the way she figured he would—she figured he would scream and shout, probably jump around. That was how most people thought he reacted to something like that. Truth be told, that wasn't how he reacted to something that really pissed him off. No, his reaction was closer to something more like he exuded death was coming. Naruto radiated dangerous chakra, chakra that consumed the air in the room almost like an uncontrollable fire.

And to think, this was all because she said that she was giving him a protection detailing.

It only made sense she did—Naruto was the Kyūbi jinchūriki, and the only offspring of the Yondaime Hokage. Even if he couldn't be exploited for the usage of the Jūbi, he could be manipulated just for the sheer monstrous power that was the Kyūbi. Because of that, he needed to be kept on a tighter leash. She didn't want to (after all, Naruto was family, and he was one of her best shinobi, and he deserved more respect) but she had no choice. Konoha needed to be protected, and so did he. She wanted him alive and safe more than anything.

"Naruto, calm down," she said, mentally congratulating herself for remaining calm and collected. Naruto growled at her, his arms crossing over his chest as his ocean blue eyes flashed bright red. He was so beyond _pissed _that Tsunade didn't even recognize him to be the happy, loud Uzumaki Naruto she was so used to. She knew that the jinchūriki, usually, were secretive, but it'd never occurred to her that Naruto—the loudest shinobi she'd ever come across, had a whole other side to him. She thought he was simple.

He was anything but that. He was such a good actor that sometimes, he forgot he was acting. The Uzumaki Naruto he'd gotten Tsunade to know was a part of him, yes, but he had a whole other nature that he did his best to avoid, but right now, he just couldn't. The last time this side of him reared its ugly head, he'd thought that Sasuke had been killed, back during their fight with Haku in the Land of Waves. He had it under better wraps now, but he was slowly losing his already lacking control. It was taking all of his willpower to not go into his more disgusting and feral Tailed Beast Mode.

"Like hell," he growled, "You're leashing me."

"Naruto, you need to be protected," said Tsunade with a sigh. "You're valuable to this village—"

"_Valuable_. You make me sound like an _object_, Tsunade," he snapped, clenching and unclenching his fist. "I can take care of my damned self. I've been doing it for years. You want to give someone guards, give it to Hanabi. Give it to Shizuka. Give it to Obito. Give it to Shikamaru's kid. Give it to Kakashi's kid. Don't waste any fucking resources on _me_. I'm not a fucking child, nor am I a pet. I'm a Jōnin of Konoha, and I'm the Kyūbi container—"

"Exactly, Naruto," Tsunade interrupted. "You're one of two of our jinchūrikis here in Konoha, and one of four who have _something_ sealed within their bodies. You're getting one, and Shikamaru's getting one, and Obito is getting one, too. Sasuke is away on a mission right now, but once he comes back, he's getting one assigned to him, too."

Naruto gave a low, irritated, chilling chuckle. "Yeah? And you think they're gonna take it much better than me? Sasuke will probably rip the ceiling apart."

"I know, but I don't give a shit, as long as all of you are safe," Tsunade sighed, leaning back in her chair. "That's what I care about. I don't like having to give you guys a protection detail. It's silly, considering you all can get away from them if you really want to. But Konoha's safety comes before what I know you guys want, and I have to think about Konoha before all else. The day you become a Kage, you'll understand what I'm talking about, Naruto. But until that day, until we catch this sonovabitch Kabuto, you'll have to deal with being protected twenty-four-seven. Now, please, calm down. If we fight, it'll get really messy really quickly, and I don't think Shizune wants to deal with that today."

Naruto glared at her, but began to take slow breaths, visibly trying to calm himself down. Slowly, his monstrous chakra lowered, until it was hardly there. She could still, of course, still sense it just slightly, but it was better than him being poised to explode. "Why no detail to Hinata?" he asked, his glare still prominent. "Kabuto's always been after her, so why nothing to her?"

"She is being protected. Just not by me." She pulled out papers from her desk drawer. "Gaara has personally taken over her protection detail for the time he is in Konohagakure. He's leaving some of his best when he leaves. In addition, the Hyūga are taking up most of the detailing, taking her officially out of my hands. It's the same case with Hanabi and Shizuka."

Naruto sighed, finally taking his blood red eyes off of her. "One last question, then, Baachan."

Tsunade sighed in relief to hear the familiar term from him. "What?"

"If you know that Sasuke is endangered by Kabuto being near… then why send him out on a mission? I know I asked you to find something for him and Kiba to do together, but why send him out, why put him on a mission? If Kabuto wants him, then he's fair game, isn't he?" asked Naruto.

She would have to admit, Naruto was far more observant than anyone really gave him credit for being. "It's the council," she responded, reaching forwards and picking up the bottle of sake from the corner of her desk, taking two cups out of the drawer. "They wanted to see if they could lure Kabuto into action, to see what he was capable of. The best way they thought, to pique Kabuto's interest, short of sending Hinata, was to send Sasuke, the next best thing. I sent him with Inuzuka Kiba for more reasons than I explain."

"Does Itachi know what you're doing?"

"No. I didn't know what I was doing myself until yesterday, right after they left, so I couldn't stop them from going," she responded, holding out a cup for the Uzumaki. "Naruto, some things are out of my hands. Just because Danzō is gone does not mean things are happy days and smiles. It's work, confusion, and, by the graces of some deity, _alcohol_. Partake." Naruto stared at it for a second before sighing, taking the cup from his Hokage. "I understand your irritation, and I know I feel the same way. But, for right now, you have to accept the situation for what it is. I apologize for it, but it is what it is."

Naruto tossed back the sake, swallowing it down in one gulp before looking back down at her. "Fine. Did you pick the detail, or did the council?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I didn't. Nor did the council. Jiraiya did." Naruto's head snapped up, brows furrowing. "He picked someone from a list of possibilities, and he made sure that they were a good choice for you." She went into her desk again—the woman had everything in that damned thing, it seemed—and pulled out a file. "The guard is ANBU. The codename is Wolf. I don't know how she will approach you, whether in uniform or in plainclothes, but—"

"Is she gonna come in, or is she gonna stay out there on your awning, failing at suppressing her chakra? I can almost smell her chakra right now," Naruto interrupted, knowing he was being rude, but he didn't like the conversation. Tsunade sighed, getting up and opening the window, gesturing for the woman outside to come into the room. A masked shinobi slipped in easily, getting into an upright position almost immediately, arms braced at her side. She looked like a typical ANBU to Naruto, except for the red, spiky hair. It was actually quite interesting to him. "How are you going to show up?"

"It'll vary." Her voice was monotonous, so nothing showed that she cared either which way.

"So you might show up either way? I don't want that shit."

The raise in her chakra indicated irritation. Good. "No offense meant, Uzumaki-san, but… _tough shit_." Tsunade sucked in a breath, and Naruto arched an eyebrow. "I'm not here to be your friend, or to work to your life. I'm here to do a job, however much you dislike my presence. My job is to protect you. I will show up in whatever way I can, whether it is in my uniform, in my normal clothes, or as a fucking cat."

"Wolf. Stop," said Tsunade, glaring at her ANBU.

"No," said Naruto, holding up his hand and surprising both kunoichi. "I like this."

"What?" they both asked.

"I like challenges," said Naruto, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wanna figure out who you are. It'll be it hard to know where you are when you're stalking me. Looking for you wherever I am will make this a lot more… tolerable." He gave a half wave, his red eyes slowly returning back to their ocean color as he made the sign of confrontation, disappearing in a puff of smoke. The two women visibly relaxed, both of them more than happy he'd left.

"Well. I'd better go start on my job," Wolf said, walking over to open window and sliding through it before interrupted.

"Wolf." She stopped moving, looking over at her Hokage. "Don't provoke him. He's… _explosive_."

Wolf smiled behind her mask. "I'll do my best." Secretly, if she did provoke him… she wouldn't fight it. Naruto was a lot more interesting than she remembered him being from their school days, and if there was one thing she liked… it was definitely interesting. He'd be a challenge, and a challenge… well, it would suffice to say that a challenge was the best thing she could hope for, especially with an opponent like Uzumaki Naruto.

The games had begun.

* * *

**_The sun in the sky thing? My friend told me about it. I've never tried it personally, since I have no shortage of clocks, watches, or electronic devices with the time on it, but I thought it would be a cool thing to employ in this story. I have no idea if it's a real thing, or if it really works, but I could only assume that it does. It makes sense to me.  
_**

**_Thank you, sailorangelmoon1 and leesa323, for your reviews. You guys made me smile so widely. :) _**

**_I hope this chapter met everyone's satisfaction! Sorry this is so late, I was just so busy yesterday... but I hope you guys enjoyed it! _**


	13. Chapter 12: Unexpected

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

_UNEXPECTED_

_/__ˌə__nik__ˈ__spektid/_

_Not expected or regarded as likely to happen; regarded as an unlikely occurrence_

* * *

"Get up, brat."

Naito eyes snapped open immediately, grabbing the hand that was about to touch his chest and pulling hard on it, looping his leg around the shinobi's neck and practically sitting on him, holding him so that his ass was up and facing towards the open doorway of his 'private' cell, knowingly holding him in a compromising position. The man barked out in surprise, struggling to pull out of Naito's grip, but Naito merely tightened, knowing he was stronger than any of these pawns of Kabuto's. His lazy purple eyes looked up from the quivering shinobi trapped in his grip towards the two standing in the doorway, their eyes filling with surprise.

"Kabuto comes for me. Not some scumbag little shits. Where is he?" he asked callously.

"He went out. Not that it matters to you. You're coming with us."

"If Kabuto's not here, then you shouldn't be. You need to get the fuck out. If I don't kill you, then Kabuto will, for approaching his precious pet," growled Naito angrily before his mind sped up, seeing the possible advantage that was present. He cocked his head slightly to the side, intrigued. "Coming with you where?"

"Konohagakure."

He frowned. He didn't even know where that was. Kabuto didn't want him going anywhere, and before he was with Kabuto, he'd only spent a year or so on the road on his own; a majority of the time he was living in the temple. Apparently, he was too precious. He knew why he was precious, and he also knew that it was for that reason he had to get out of there. He would go anywhere that was far from Kabuto. "Why am I going there?"

"Does it fucking matter, brat? Just come on," snapped the ninja.

No. He was right, it didn't matter, not to him.

But not for the reasons he suspected.

Naito grinned happily for his own reasons, letting go of the ninja he'd so easily disgraced and getting out of bed, his bare feet touching the cold cement ground. Shoes. He needed shoes. One didn't understand the importance of such a trivial object until they didn't have it. The blue hospital pajamas he'd been force did nothing to stop the cold air from making his skin almost unbearably cold. He hated those clothes. They were so fucking demeaning. Why couldn't he get normal clothes? Well, _that_ was changing, effective fucking immediately. .

"Get me outta these hospital clothes and into something a little more comfy, and you've got a fucking deal," he said, cackling on the inside. He was getting out. He was getting out, and he was going to get these people probably murdered for getting him out. He was getting out, and he had no intentions on coming back, except if only to take his knife and kill Kabuto, slowly, and painfully.

And the idiot had no idea he'd just made the worst mistake of his life.

* * *

Obito hated Sarutobi Konohamaru.

It wasn't that Konohamaru wasn't a good shinobi—he was—or that they didn't work well together—they did—or that he didn't trust him—he did. Nothing about Konohamaru made him distrust him. He was well trusted by Naruto, and anyone who was trusted by Naruto would definitely be trusted by him. Beyond that, besides for being a little bit annoying and a deeper perverted side, Konohamaru wasn't that bad to be around. Konohamaru didn't know about his secret, but he didn't hate him blindly like the adults did. All around, Konohamaru was not a bad guy. He didn't hate him because of these things; he hated him because of one simple fact that he just couldn't overlook:

Konohamaru had a crush on Hanabi. _His_ Hanabi.

Konohamaru was impressively popular, so in Obito's opinion, he could have any girl he wanted. But why Hanabi? Was it because Hanabi could beat the shit out of him? If so, that was a shitty reason to have, in his opinion. He wished that Konohamaru would figure out that Hanabi was not interested and leave her alone, but the problem was, Hanabi was so disinterested that she didn't even realize that Konohamaru even saw her that way. Technically speaking, she didn't even realize that _anyone _saw her that way, which was why he was having such an issue. Since she didn't see it, her followers had gotten into their heads that they could _convince _her that she could have a relationship with any one of them.

That was probably the most annoying part of it all, in his opinion. Hanabi was so blind to these boys—and few girls—chasing after her. Thankfully, according to a conversation he'd had with Shizuka, her older sister had apparently been taking care of these suitors for him; it was just the more stubborn ones that were left around, most of whom were in his own age group. He wasn't worried about most of them—they were slightly wimpy and they wouldn't really try anything; they were happy with staring from afar, thus the basis of why Hinata didn't really fight them off all too hard—except for one. _Konohamaru_.

Konohamaru was practically the only one left who was trying to go out on a date with her, though she didn't realize it. Why couldn't he just go out with Moegi? She obviously had the hots for him. Why couldn't he just see her adoration for him? Was it too hard for him to get into his tiny brain, a possibility that someone might like him? Or did he like challenges, as like Hanabi was unintentionally? Whatever the reason was, he hated him. Just hated him.

Despite the fact that he was stronger, and had changed in multiple ways, he was still amazingly introverted. He would much rather spend time at home, reading something, or watching the clouds alone; rather than going to a party with a group of people around him. He tended to try and stay away from crowds of people, despite Hanabi's many attempts to bring him out into society. Just because he accepted that people judged him didn't mean he liked it, and he tried to avoid situations in which they may arise. Hanabi and Shizuka both knew this, and therefore, they had gotten used to the fact that he would say no, even when they were younger.

So when he said 'yes', he threw them through a little bit of a loop.

"Wait a minute. He seriously said yes to coming to a party?" Hanabi asked incredulously, arms crossed over her chest, one graceful eyebrow raised. Shizuka nodded his head, eyes widened empathetically, rubbing the back of his head with his gloved hands. Obito was busy avoiding the two of them after the events at the Uchiha manor (which Shizuka had no intentions on allowing him to live down), and was currently busy training in the Nara compound, despite the fact that he, as a medic, strongly advised against strenuous activity. He had forced his way in to see his friend (which meant he waited until he was on his way back to Uchiha compound, where he was temporarily staying until his room was not quarantined), and asked him in his passive way to come to the party being held at training ground five.

He hadn't expected Obito to say yes to a party. Parties meant groups of people, congregated into a confined area. Parties meant people who may not necessarily like him would be around him. Parties meant that Obito had to socialize, with more people than just his friends. Parties were _not _Obito's natural habitat. He'd only asked because Hanabi said it wouldn't hurt. He _was not_ expecting him to say yes.

"And he said he'd meet us at Ichiraku so we can go there together," said Shizuka, "He didn't imply that he'd be there. He didn't say he might show up. He didn't even make me feel uncertain her would show up. He's meeting us at Ichiraku at eight tonight so we can all go there _at the same time._" In terms of Obito's habits, that was weird. He always insinuated that he _might _show up, or _thought_ about showing up. Though a majority of the time he did in fact show up, there was always a doubt that he wouldn't. And now… he was straight-forwardly saying he would? It was more than just odd. It was completely backwards from the Obito they knew.

Hanabi cocked her head to the side. "Is he… is he sick still? Does he know that there's alcohol at parties? And drugs? And half-naked girls who are more than willing to dance against any random boy they come across?" Her brow furrowed, her eyes showing her irritation with the idea of Obito going only to dance with some slut right in front of her face. "He damn well better not be going for the half-naked girls."

Shizuka gave a half-smile that fell in the next second, still confused as to why his incredibly introverted best friend was actually willingly coming to a party. He shrugged, shaking his head. "Honestly? I have no idea. Should we tell Naruto-sensei about it?"

Hanabi shook her head quickly, not giving it a second thought. "No. No way. Naruto-sensei's been a little bit wacky over the past few days."

Shizuka raised a brow. "Wacky?"

"Yeah. Every time I see him, he says that there's someone following him, and he's busy trying to find them, so he has no time to chat a bit." She shrugged. "Whether or not it's the truth, I dunno, but he runs off before I can offer my help, so I doubt it's the truth."

He rubbed the back of his head, biting his bottom lip. "Damn. Maybe they both finally snapped. It was bound to happen; sending them off together for four years in search of some 'super-pervert', as Naruto-sensei called him," suggested Shizuka, his eyes showing his worry. "Should we get them appointments with some top-grade therapists?"

"Nah," said Hanabi, waving her hand in dismissal of the idea. If they had therapists, they'd only drive them up the walls. "Naruto-sensei and Obi-kun are both naturally crazy people. Let them work this out by themselves; they've done it their entire lives. Let's go train before this party."

He sighed, but shrugged. "Sure. Why the hell not?"

* * *

Unsurprisingly, the number-one unpredictable ninja Uzumaki Naruto was amazingly hard to keep track of. Naruto was quite jumpy when he wanted to be, always thinking that someone—well, herself, actually—was somewhere in the area, watching him, which was technically the truth. Whenever he seemed to feel her chakra in the area, he immediately bolted, acting more like a jumpy rabbit (or fox) than a human being. It would have been slightly amusing if he hadn't, more than once, almost managed to find her in whatever hiding spot she was in.

Of course, she made it slightly easy for him. She dressed in her ANBU uniform, which was the only uniform he knew her in. He had yet to see her in plainclothes, which she was choosing to take advantage of now.

"I thought you were kidding when you said you'd ditch the uniform for this job," said Takeshi, watching Fuki fuss around her hair, trying to make it so that it wouldn't stick up in its atypically messy way (which was impossible, but she would try until her dying day), fixing the long, pale grey scarf draped around her neck, ends nearly touching the ground. She turned her large brown eyes to her flat mate and coworker, giving him a disdainful glare that he had to resist the urge to snicker at. She played with the crop-cut yellow-and-green non-restrictive shirt she wore over a mesh armor tank top, fixing the form fitted shirt on her body.

"It's a necessary sacrifice," she responded, returning her attention to her hair once more. _God, couldn't this damn thing just act correctly for once? _"Speaking of jobs, what about you? Why aren't you watching Nara Shikamaru right now, huh?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips as she turned around.

"I am. Technically, my clone is. Like yours is right now, with the Uzumaki." Fuki hn'd, returning her attention back to her clothing. "Daichi's probably the only one out of the three of us who's refusing to use clones, unless he wants sleep. You're the only one who's given up on uniform."

"I haven't given up on uniform," she defended, "I just want to change it up for him. I have the feeling that he was catching onto me, and I can't have that. After about a week of this, I'll go back to uniform. The week after that, I may just become some sort of animal. I'll keep him guessing."

"This is a job, not a game," Takeshi warned seriously.

She gave him a cheeky grin in response. "I don't see why it can't be both," she said with a shrug, fixing the long gray scarf so that the village crest-marked metal protector showed right in front of her collarbone. Hopefully, she could tail him in her normal clothes. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice her at all. After all, Naruto was usually such a largely unobservant, unsuspecting shinobi, so if she just put chakra suppressing tags under her shirt; he would have no chakra for to sense, and therefore wouldn't notice her. She, personally, felt it was a foolproof plan on her part.

Fuki wasn't going to lie; she liked playing this game with Naruto. His constant attempts to find her, no matter what it made him look like to the public eye (which, if she was listening to the gossip mill correctly, was a crazy, idiot blond, something he was before, but now the word was actually 'schizophrenic'), were all completely amusing, once she got over her initial annoyance when he obstructed her from doing her job. However, constantly having to change positions and keep on the move was helping her get a keener eye, which made sense considering whom she was chasing across Konohagakure every single day for the past week. And as an added bonus, she was sure she was losing those five pounds she had been desperately trying to kick off for months.

Walking around in plainclothes wasn't a new thing for Fuki, as she was required to keep up appearances by taking a few missions as a normal shinobi, but it was a completely different idea to be doing a plainclothes job while on ANBU duty. A small part of her kept forgetting, and so she was constantly reminding herself of what she was supposed to be doing, whom she was supposed to be following. She couldn't think of that pitiful half-kiwi sitting in the bottom of her fridge that was probably dry to hell and the fuzzier than most dogs. She couldn't think of the distinct lack of breakfast cereals in her cabinets, with the exception of some boring, sugarless cereal. She couldn't even think of the last toilet roll sitting at the top of her closet, which was the complete reason to why she had taken to _not _using her apartment's bathroom as often as she would like to.

She had to think about Naruto. She had to think about following Naruto, about keeping track of him, about—

A hand grabbed hers, and before she could even think about it, she was pulled into an alleyway, a hand crashing over her mouth. Her instincts kicked in, and she crashed the back of her head into her assailant's nose, causing them to yelp in pain and let go of her as they dropped like a rock. She turned around, prepared to kick ass, before her mind finally digested the whole of the situation.

_Oh shit. I just K.O'd my mark, _Fuki realized, immediately falling to her knees beside Naruto, lightly tapping his cheek in a half-hearted attempt to wake him up. He came to rather quickly; snapping to attention and sitting bolt upright, pulling a kunai out of his back pouch. She would've taken it more seriously had blood not been pouring out of his nostrils like a geyser. Of course, that didn't mean to say she found it _funny_, but the danger factor was just nonexistent, to say the least.

"Um… sorry," she apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, giving him a half-hearted smile. "I, um… you grabbed me, and I just… well, reacted. I guess what I mean is that I didn't mean to break your nose."

Naruto blinked, staring at her with confusion in his ocean blue depths. "You broke my nose?" he asked, raising his fingers to his nose only to coat them with blood. His eyes widened as he took in the new information. "Holy shit, you broke my nose! What the fuck is your head made out of, fucking bricks? Holy fuck! How hard did you hit me?!"

"Pretty hard," she admitted, coming close to him and making a quick hand sign before her hand was enveloped with a green chakra, raising her hand to his nose and quickly fixing the broken part of Naruto's face. "Like I said, you grabbed me, and I just reacted. I didn't mean to knock you out and break your nose, honestly. I was just aiming to catch you off-guard or something." Her brown eyes flicked upwards, finding her masked clone sitting in a tree, staring down at them. Ah. So she did manage to keep watch over him.

_Great job, oh clone of mine, letting me hit who I'm supposed to protect. Super duper job there_, she thought sarcastically.

"So it's my fault you used your rock-solid fuckin' _head_ on me, eh?"

Her brow twitched. "Well, technically, yes. I don't go around head-butting random guys for a good time, you know. It's not exactly an entertaining idea, using my head as a fist. I happen to be in a degree of pain myself, dude, though I will admit, my injury will be nowhere near as colorful as yours could've been."

He cracked a half smile. "Sorry I hurt your head with my nose, then."

She was caught off-guard by that smile. She definitely wasn't expecting him to do that. She was expecting him to bitch some more. She found herself smiling now, sincerely, happily. Happier than she had in a longer time than she could remember. "Um… its okay, I guess," she mumbled, giggling lightly.

"How bad do I look though? Is it…"

"It's yellow. I've gone past the major swelling phase. You're now just at the ending part of what would've been a really purple and black bruise," she responded, pulling her hand away. "There. The blood's stopped gushing now. I mean, some of it's dried on your upper lip, and your nose looks kind of like you got some yellow tie-die fluid on it, but I think you'll be alright." Naruto sighed in relief, picking himself up off the ground, rubbing his probably sore nose. "Why did you pull me into an alley, by the way?"

"Hmm…? Oh!" he said, eyes widening, "I wanted to know if you saw someone behind me. Someone… shifty."

Her brow furrowed. "Someone behind you? Do you have stalkers?" _Besides me, _she mentally added.

"Kind of. I've been trying to shake them, but the chakra signature kept getting stronger and stronger, and it seemed to be gaining levels each time you got closer, so I was worried they were behind you."

Her panic rose in her throat. "And the chakra signature…?"

"It's gone now, but I bet it could come back, dattebayo!" he said, suddenly worried as he grabbed her hand, surprising her when he pulled her along, her running after him down the road. He really was an unpredictable guy, she definitely wasn't expecting him to grab a random girl he didn't know who'd just injured him by the hand and force her to run with him. The pair of them garnered strange looks, more so Naruto than her, but that was more than likely due to the fact that the notoriously single Uzumaki Naruto was holding hands with a living, breathing girl.

"Can we stop a minute?!" she asked, not tired in the least, but just annoyed by the attention. She only paid attention to the rumor mill for the sake of her job. Keeping secrets _secret_ was best done when knowing what the villagers knew in the first place. One can monitor a lot just by listening to some of the shit these people came up with in their spare time. She did not like the idea of being _a part_ _of _the grapevine. They weren't supposed to know who she was, what she looked like, or talk about her at all. She wasn't supposed to be important, to anyone.

"No! I don't want them to catch up! C'mon, only a few more steps!" Naruto said in a strangely supportive voice, making her keep going even though she kept telling herself she didn't want to. Despite herself, she gave a small smile at the childish actions the Uzumaki was exhibiting. It was actually quite endearing, in her opinion. Very endearing indeed.

They ran all the way to a small playground she used to frequent as a child, where he let go of her hand promptly. Her smile slipped at that—she had actually quite liked the warmth his hand provided her, actually—but she did her best to ignore it. "Think anyone's following us now?" he asked, the yellowing on his nose already going down rapidly.

"Ah… no. I didn't think anyone was following us before, honestly," she lied. Not true. Technically, she was her own tail right now. "And why did you just randomly run off with me? I just broke your nose. And, as an added bonus, I have no fuckin' _clue _who you are. You could be a serial killer or something." (Another lie. She knew him back at the Academy. Everyone knew him.) "You could just be crazy. You could be a psycho. I don't know you at all."

"I'm not crazy, dattebayo," he muttered, looking down at the ground.

"What sane person ends their sentence with 'dattebayo'?" Fuki questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I talk too much sometimes. I talk before my brain knows what I want to say. So sometimes I say extra words because I haven't fully thought through my sentences yet. It's to buy me time, I guess. I also say it when I'm annoyed or excited or nervous or flustered." Did he even take a breath during that sentence? "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo."

"And you did it again," she said with a giggle, making him smile.

"You know, normal people return to that introduction by saying their own name, but maybe I'm just crass!" he responded.

"Crass. Isn't that a good word," she said teasingly.

"It is, but, you know, you still haven't told me your name."

"Hmm, I guess I haven't. Oh, well. I guess it'll have to just be a mystery," she said, turning around and beginning to walk away. Naruto, flustered, ran up to her and grabbed her by the wrist. She turned slightly, a teasing look in her large brown eyes. "Uzumaki-kun, haven't you learned not to grab me from behind yet?"

He grinned. "I'm a slow learner."

"So it seems. Wanna let go?"

"Sure! When you agree to tell me your name, I mean, dattebayo."

"Hmm, then it appears we've reached an impasse, haven't we?" she asked, licking her lips. Was she actually _flirting _with her mark? And worse… was Naruto actually flirting back? Furthermore, Naruto knew how to flirt? That was possibly the most mind-boggling thing. Flirting and Naruto were not two terms one paired together naturally. Naruto was too upfront with his feelings and opinions to have skills in flirting, or so she'd believed… he was actually quite… skilled.

"I mean, I'll settle if you agree to go out to dinner with me," he said, ocean blue eyes twinkling in the low light of the moonlight, "And you have to tell me your name, too! And your address! So I can pick you up, I mean." She raised an eyebrow in surprise. Naruto, asking someone out on a date? She didn't think he was capable of it; not since Haruno Sakura.

"What if I agree to this date on the conditions that I pick the time, and I pick the place, and I find you?" she asked, turning slightly and wrapping her free arm around her waist. If she really wanted, she could rip her hand right out of Naruto's grip, but she was having way too much fun with the teasing she was giving him.

"And you'll tell me your name?"

"And I'll tell you my name." She had no such intentions, but he didn't have to know that.

* * *

Sometimes, Obito wondered what civilian parties were like. He wondered if the normal age restrictions on alcoholic beverages applied in the cases of those parties, and he wondered if the under-aged partygoers had to get another person to buy their alcohol for them, like they did in the books and the movies. He wondered if these civilians knew that on certain nights, shinobi above the Chūnin rank, provided they were above the age of fifteen, could purchase whatever alcoholic beverage they wanted, or that certain bars got together and funded a one-night full-out party in some of the training grounds. He wondered if they knew that, and he also wondered if he somehow managed to come up with the actual answer as to why civilians hated shinobi with such white-hot passion.

"What the hell was I thinking?" he muttered under his breath as Hanabi pulled him through, though he tried to fight against her.

It was a way larger crowd than he'd assumed there would be, which was immediately making him uncomfortable. He tried to turn around, but Hanabi's iron-like grip on the front of his sweatshirt was telling him otherwise. What had he been thinking when he agreed? Sure, he didn't want Konohamaru to flirt with Hanabi, but with a crowd this big, he was almost ready to just concede. He could feel people's eyes on him, though he didn't realize that with the majority that was there and the level of intoxication in its population, the eyes looking at him were mostly admiring him, mostly sexualizing him. One could almost tell that he had Uchiha blood running through his veins: his physical appearance and aura leant to that much.

Shizuka, until this point, had sincerely doubted the existence of the Uchiha effect. He had believed that it had to be nothing more than urban myth. So when two girls came up to him with fuck-me looks on their faces, already stunning inebriated, he found himself quickly believing in the mystical Uchiha Attraction effect. Obito stared at them as if they had two heads as they attempted—and failed—to pique his interest by relentlessly flirting with him. Hanabi scowled at them, her arms crossing over her chest, showing her irritation quite plainly.

"Obito, I'm getting drinks. What do you want?" she said, interrupting the flirting Obito wasn't even listening to. He blinked, looking up at her.

"I'll go with you," he immediately said, much to the chagrin of the two girls in front of them. He looked back at Shizuka, who was snickering at Obito for having a fan base. The vindictive, cruel part of Obito immediately went into affect, his inner self and Meiwaku grinning evilly as he said in a smooth voice he didn't even know he had, "Ladies. This is my good friend, Shizuka. Shizuka has skills that I wish I could have. Shizuka, would you care to entertain them for while, until we get back?"

Shizuka blinked, opening his mouth to argue—he had no interest in sluts—but before he could say anything, Obito placed his hand on Hanabi's waist, gently pushing her forwards and away from the three of them. Hanabi stared up at Obito, surprised by the very evil act he had just committed, eyes wide in surprise and mouth gaping, no words coming out. _Fuck, _Shizuka thought as he felt one girl put a hand on his bare upper arm. _I fucking hate my friends. _

"What're you doing?" Hanabi asked as they walked away from Shizuka, who was doing his best to avoid being manhandled, Obito's hand on her waist. She wanted to take that hand in hers, but she figured it might be too forward. After all, Obito was only just getting back to Konoha, and nothing in his behavior indicated since getting back really told her that he wanted her at all, with the exception of his delirious cuddling with her at the Uchiha compound. She bit her lip. She wished that her friend was nowhere near as complicated as he was—it would make her feel a whole lot uneasy. For instance, she wished that he wouldn't just stand there, staring down at some girl's breasts, and then in the next moment touch her in such a caring way. It was completely confusing.

He looked down at her, brow furrowing slightly, and then flattened out to a sad gaze. "Ah. You don't want me to touch you, Hanabi? I understand…"

"Not what I said," she muttered with a blush, looking away. He raised his own eyebrow, hearing her completely, a small amount of happiness reaching his heart. Was she… embarrassed? And she _wanted_ him to touch her? _Well, then_, he thought, his smile growing as he took a dare: he took her hand in his, making her blink owlishly in surprise and look up at him, the look on her face probably the cutest look he'd ever seen her give him. "What're you doing now?"

He gave a small smile. "I'm taking a dare," he responded honestly, moving forwards and leading her through the crowd, her blush growing by the minute. People looked at the two of them—boys and girls alike—greatly interested in the physical contact the two had. Hanabi felt a hot blush grow on her cheeks at being the center of someone's attention, but one look back at her from Obito had her embarrassment at being watched by these people almost instantly disappearing.

He was confident, and surprisingly oblivious to the looks he was being given. She looked him in the eyes, recognizing a certain amount of defiance that seemed to be in the dark chocolate depths. He was blatantly ignoring them, she realized.

He was saying, 'fuck it', and, appealing to her sense of challenge, daring her with his eyes to do the very same thing. She smiled right back, taking his silent challenge. Why the hell not? It wasn't like she actually disliked the contact. Just the opposite, in fact. "Do we want to bring Shizuka beers, rum, or whiskey? Which would you prefer?" he asked, drawing her attention back to the task at hand as he looked down at the alcoholic beverages on one of several tables. "Or do we want to go with something like chakra-infused sake? The strong stuff?"

Hanabi's brow furrowed. "Otōsan said that chakra-aged sake is really expensive. What's it doing here?"

"I'm not asking questions," he said with a small chuckle and a half-smile, his fingertips touching the long neck of the bottle. "Which one do we want? If I'm gonna be here, we are going to drink _something _alcoholic and hangover-inducing."

Hanabi looked between her four options, her brow furrowing, and then suddenly a wide, mischievous, nearly dangerously sexy smile lit up her face. "Obi-kun," she said with a sweet, innocent voice, tightening her grip around Obito's hand and making his heartbeat speed up that much more, "Why can't we have all four of them?"

It was one of those moments that reaffirmed, for him, some of the reasons why he was so in love with Hyūga Hanabi.

"Sure, why not."

* * *

Where was Hayato?

Kakashi frowned as he rubbed the back of his head, staring into his son's bedroom with what could only be described as a lost expression in his eyes, slightly stumped by the disappearing act that Hayato seemed too happy to pull tonight. Why, he had no idea, but it was slightly unsettling because even with his prowess, he couldn't seem to sense him _anywhere_. Hayato was skilled, but not that skilled—not yet. He hadn't taught him how to suppress yet, and nor had Neji.

Kakashi closed the door to the messy room (which he supposed he should tell him to clean), scratching the edge of his mouth through his mask. Should he be worried? Hayato could handle himself just fine. He wasn't like the rest of these Academy students of this day and age. He was made of tougher things. He'd gone through worse things than what Konoha had to offer.

So, no, he shouldn't be worried… but he couldn't help but be. Hayato was his kid, his brat, his pup, his flesh-and-blood. Plus, he was still a child. He preferred to know where he was.

He strolled into his room, looking for his Jōnin jacket so he could go pursuing the boy before he heard something like shuffling come from his closet. He frowned, immediately making his way over to the closet, prepared to find a mouse but unprepared to find the son in question sitting in the bottom of it. He cursed to himself—of course he didn't sense him there. There were concealing seals in it.

Hayato stared up at him, dark grey eyes wide. "Are you okay, Otō?"

Kakashi sighed. Of course he would act as if there was nothing weird about him sitting at the bottom of a closet. If he had been crying, it somehow, to Kakashi, wouldn't be half as weird as it was to him. But he wasn't. He was perfectly and freakishly calm and collected, if not just slightly sad. He crouched down, giving him a curious look. "Why are you sitting in the bottom of my closet, Hayato?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

Hayato blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. A very clear indication that he was doing something that he obviously thought he wasn't supposed to be doing. In the back of his mind, he wondered if Hayato had been going through his ANBU gear, which sat, like always, underneath a loose floorboard in the back of the closet.

"What's in here that's interesting to you?" asked Kakashi clearly.

Hayato gave him another look before he turned slightly in defeat, going into the box on his right side and pulling out a child's set of dark clothing, yellowing with its age. "You kept the clothes you found me in. Why?" he asked clearly.

Truthfully? He didn't know. For the same unknown reason, he also kept Mr. Ukki (and all his 'reincarnations' as Naruto, for some reason, insisted on calling the new plants that wormed its ways into his apartment). For the same unknown reason, he kept the battered and bruised erotic romance novel that Hinata had gotten him as a joke rather than as a serious read for him (a romance novel he had found too crappy and soppy for words yet continued to read). For the same unknown reason, he kept the hideously rosy-pink and flowery mask that Sakura had gotten him for his birthday (the date of which he'd been stunned she'd found out before either Sasuke or Naruto). For the same unknown reason, he'd even saved Sasuke's old hitai-ate from the destruction of Pein's invasion, even though Sasuke had come back to Konoha during the same time (and why he also never told Naruto he'd saved the damn thing he didn't even understand). He shrugged, watching Hayato carefully. "You recognize them?"

"Of course I do. I was wearing these before I went blind. They were the clothes I was wearing when Rei-chama found me. I refused any new ones, except if these were in the wash." He rubbed the fabric of the clothes. "Why keep it? It's not like I can wear them ever again."

"I know that," Kakashi responded, frowning behind his mask. Why was this question so confusing? It shouldn't have been. It was a very clear question, wasn't it? He sighed. It was times like these that he wished Minato was there. He would tell him exactly what to say to Hayato. "Because… I like to remember."

"You have perfect memory," Hayato responded blankly.

"No… I know. But…" He sighed, reaching over Hayato's lap and picking up the box, going through it himself. A pair of Obito's goggles. One of Minato's kunai. Kushina's wedding ring. The remains of his father's blade. Keep safes, that's what they were. "They're mementos, Hayato."

"Mementos?" he asked, frowning. "Why?"

"Because… life is fleeting," Kakashi responded, taking the small clothing items into his hand and placing it back into the box, on top of the shitty romance novel that Hinata had the audacity to give him. "These things remind me that life takes it course, and that people will live on through the memories they leave." He placed the box back in the corner and tapped Hayato's knee. "Come. It's dinner time," he said, standing up, ignoring the cracking of his knee. "I—"

"How come you've got nothing in there from my mama?"

Kakashi paused, blinking as he looked back at Hayato, who stared at him with wide eyes. "Hmm?"

"My… my mama hasn't got a memento in here," he replied, bringing his knees into his chest and looked away. "Did you not want her to live on?"

Kakashi stared down at Hayato, seeing him as the blind and unfortunate four-year-old again, the same young boy who was ostracized for things he couldn't control, the same young boy who was alone, and the same young boy who simply wanted his mother. Kakashi, despite the complaining of his aging joints, crouched down again, getting close to level with Hayato's face.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't hate your mother, if that's what you're insinuating." Hayato looked at him. "I'm not happy with the way she handled her being pregnant—I'm not happy that she decided to _run away with you_ instead of facing me about it. I'm not happy that because of her decision, I lost the first four years of your life.

"That does not, however, mean to say I hate her, or wish that she wasn't here. I can't hate her. Without her, you wouldn't exist," he continued softly. He rubbed Hayato wiry silvery blue locks and smiled behind his mask, standing up again. "Come on, kid, I'm hungry. Let's eat."

Hayato stared at his father as he left his own bedroom, grey eyes wide with surprise. He swallowed dryly, looking back into the box. He'd found the box a couple of months ago, just before his eighth birthday, and he had found himself drawn back to it every once in a while; always when his father didn't notice it. For one; he wasn't sure if it was a bad thing for him to want to touch the things in the box, and two; he also wasn't sure that, if approached about it, his father would tell him absolutely everything—which, when he thought about it, he was correct in the assumption of. There was nothing about his father's words to him that told him why his mother didn't have a memento in the box—he'd actually danced around telling him; artfully so if he might say so. His father was hiding things from him.

Just like he hid the porcelain mask underneath the floorboards, along with a white flak vest.

His father had secrets.

* * *

"I had no idea that Konoha was so close," muttered Naito as he stared down at the village he could see from the tallest tree, not sure whether or not to frown or to smile. Its closeness wasn't something of a major concern, what with the fact that Kabuto was already targeting the village anyways. He just didn't like _how close it really had been_, all this fucking time.

"That's 'cause your some idiot kid Kabuto-sama picked up," grumbled up one of the ninja beside him.

Somehow, with some grace of Jashin, he managed to keep his hands to himself. He'd killed people for much less before; all Jashinist had. But killing these people would get him nowhere, and where he wanted to be—needed to be—was inside Konoha. He needed its protection. He needed to get away, and this was the way to do it.

So he held his tongue and simply nodded. "Sure am," he chirped happily, glad that the men from earlier stuck him with one of the lower lackeys who had no idea who he was. "When do we strike? How soon?"

"Two hours from now. We're attacking a training ground. There's apparently some gathering," responded the ninja.

Naito grinned and nodded. Good. Simply amazing, in fact. Simply a-fucking-mazing.

* * *

_**It's my birthday this week :) So I'll upload a couple of more chapters... maybe... two more? I shall see...  
**_


	14. Chapter 13: Control

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

* * *

_CONTROL_

_/k__ə__n__ˈ__trōl/_

_the power to influence or direct people's behavior or the course of events; to exercise authoritative or dominating influence over; direct. _

* * *

"I think there was a party back in Konoha tonight."

Sasuke looked up from the weapons he was busying himself with sharpening, his lips allowing a light smile to develop on his face as he looked at his comrade. He knew as well as any of the people within their shared group of friends knew that Kiba had a certain amount of problems with alcohol—he got immensely stupid and touchy-feely when he was intoxicated, and he got intoxicated rather quickly. He'd been meaning to quit for a long time now but apparently, the draw of a party was just too great.

"I'm sorry that you can't get drunk tonight, Kiba," said Sasuke in a half-joking voice, shaking his head.

"Shut up." Kiba stuck his tongue out at him, playfully, actually. The two of them had been managing to get along quite well over the past week. "I guess it'll do me good. Maybe I'll work on my drinking problems."

"One can hope, right?" Sasuke asked, smirking lightly as he returned to sharpening his weapons. The two of them had just finished setting up site, having fallen into a good routine, and now were simply waiting for Akamaru, who was doing one last run before he rested for the night. They'd stopped rather late, later than usual, but it was because Sasuke had said that they should go a little further due to a slow start they'd gotten that morning.

"Right," said Kiba with his own smirk, watching the Uchiha when he was sure he wasn't looking. Sasuke was in his natural element when he was working with his ninja tools, no matter what tool it was. Anyone who saw Sasuke knew that he was born to be a shinobi. It was his right to become a shinobi. And a good one he was. Kiba hadn't seen anyone take care of his weapons like Sasuke did. He, like many other shinobi he knew, took his tools to a shop to get sharpened, or bought new ones. Sasuke's weapons, with the exception of the senbon he'd grown to get used to carrying on his person just in case, were all sealed into the armband on his wrist. These were all weapons he must've had since his Genin days, and he took care of them.

"Why don't you just buy new ones?" Kiba asked, quite interested in the response. Sasuke looked up, brows furrowed and a confused frown on his face, telling Kiba that a rephrasing of his sentence was definitely in order. He swallowed and rephrased, "Your weapons. Why do you do upkeep on your kunai and your shuriken when you can buy new ones for cheap instead of wasting time by sharpening them? Buying new weapons is not expensive."

Sasuke's face filled with understanding. "I don't like getting rid of things when they still work," he replied, putting down the sharper shuriken and putting his elbows on his knees. "Until I run out of knife to utilize, I see no reason to get rid of it. I'll just sharpen it, save money I guess…"

"Stingy, are we?" teased Kiba.

"No," said Sasuke with a frown. "Money is of no issue to me. But… this set was a birthday gift, from my father. It was the last birthday gift I received from him." _Shit. Now I'm an asshole,_ Kiba thought. He hadn't remembered the massacre until that moment.

"Sorry. I didn't—" began Kiba, eyes wide, only for Sasuke to hold up his hand and cut him off.

"No. Don't apologize. You didn't know. I don't exactly run around telling people where I get my weapons," he replied, his onyx eyes looking anywhere but at Kiba—as if _he _were the one who was supposed to embarrassed, not Kiba. "It's fine."

"No, I shouldn't have made any assumptions. I forgot that your dad… you know…" He swallowed dryly. "You don't talk about your parents or your family in general, so I forgot."

"You don't talk about your family either," Sasuke said, his frown deepening. "I've met your mother, and I've met your sister… Hana… but… I've never met your dad."

Kiba looked away now. "My dad doesn't live with us," he said in a bitter voice, sighing. "He was scared of my mom so he ran off when I was about six years old or so, I don't remember quite well anymore. He said that me and my sister were lost causes, so he never came back to see us. He did send us one piece of mail over the years—an invite to his wedding, with a picture of his pregnant wife-to-be on the front."

Sasuke winced. "Damn. Your dad… he's an asshole."

"He's pathetic, and he's not worth my time or my worry," Kiba tried to wave off, forcing himself to look at Sasuke again. He gave the Uchiha a small, half-meant smile, a smile that let Sasuke know that he, too, was hurt from the loss of his own father.

Sasuke frowned, disliking the amount that Kiba was hurting. He didn't deserve it. Sighing, he got up, moving around the small fire and sitting down beside the Inuzuka, almost immediately returning to his sharpening. Of course, he found himself with a growing inability to focus on the sharpening—he could feel Kiba's body heat right next to him.

"Sasuke…"

"Hmm?" asked the Uchiha, looking up from his sharpening to see that Kiba's face was, once again, right next to his.

Time seemed to slow down as he took in Kiba's features—especially when he licked his lips in such a tantalizing way. Did Kiba even realize the effect he had on him? He thought not. He had no idea why any deity in the heavens above would give him such a guy to fall in love with. He was too attractive for his own damned good, and he had no idea of the affect he could cause. Sasuke had spent the past week dreaming of the possibilities that could've occurred the last time they were this close, and hoping that it could happen again, so he could change his reaction. But he could feel the fear rising up in his throat, the doubt that Kiba would push him away. But he wanted to, at the very same time, regardless of the consequences.

Holy shit, how he wanted to. His body was turning into a live wire; so acutely aware of Kiba's closeness that he wondered if he'd been magnetized to Kiba. His lips—hell, his entire body—it was burning, and it just needed relief, relief that he felt that only Kiba could possibly provide. He would burn up if he didn't. Kiba's lips, hell; Kiba's body was the relief from the stifling flames that he so desperately needed, so desperately craved.

_Fuck it, _he finally decided, allowing himself to breathe again. He wanted to do it, and he did what he wanted (he was an Uchiha, after all, and an Uchiha always got what they wanted, regardless of its effects). If Kiba punched him again, then fine. He'd face that. At least he would live knowing he'd kissed the love of his life at least once. He rubbed his lips together as he hesitantly moved towards Kiba, brushing his warm lips against Kiba's. That was good enough for him… wasn't it?

No.

No it wasn't.

Kiba's lips were warm, and they were rough where he wanted them to be and soft in others. They were the best lips he'd ever felt before in his life. He couldn't resist the inclination making him kiss him a little bit harder, trying to commit the feeling to memory. If this was going to happen once, Sasuke figured he might as well make it count. He might as well sear into Kiba's memory that he was getting kissed by Uchiha fucking Sasuke.

Kiba, on the other hand, completely blanked out to all reality except for the feeling of Sasuke's lips. They were chapped, warm, rough, and all-around amazing. They were better than any other lips he'd ever felt before, and he couldn't help but wonder what they would taste like. Hesitantly, Kiba allowed his tongue to snake out of his mouth and touch Sasuke's lips, asking him, without words, to open his own mouth. The Uchiha complied, deepening the kiss on Kiba's orders, both of them letting out a low moan as their tongues touched. It was amazing, this feeling. Truly amazing. It was like he'd died and gone straight to heaven—heaven was Uchiha Sasuke's lips against his, it was the warmth that was Sasuke's tongue dancing with his own. If the kissing was this good, how would…

How would touching his bare skin feel?

Slowly, Kiba raised his hand to Sasuke's neck, unzipping and moving that annoyingly high collar out of his way first and feeling his pulse beneath the pale flesh of his neck. Where he touched, the hairs stood on end, and goosebumps rose. Either he was freezing cold (which was probable, the night air wasn't exactly all that warm that night) or Sasuke was getting chills from how much he liked it. With hope, it would be the latter.

Kiba pulled away from the kiss, pecking the corner of Sasuke's mouth, and trailing his lips along the skin of Sasuke's stubbly jaw, his hand pressing against Sasuke's neck in order to keep the now trembling Uchiha in place.

"Ah…" moaned Sasuke as Kiba began to nibble at his neck, playing with the skin. _Fuck, God… do I stop him, or do I let him keep going? _Sasuke asked himself as his own hand found its way past Kiba's jacket, slipping underneath the armored mesh shirt and touching the warm skin of Kiba's abdomen. Kiba flinched, but he didn't fight him—no, that hand moving down and touching the top of Sasuke's, pushing him down towards his pant line and letting the Uchiha touch the thin line of wiry pubic hair that trailed from his navel to below the waistline of his pants was in no way trying to stop him; it was encouraging this behavior. He definitely wanted to keep going. He'd waited four and a half _years _for this. He wasn't patient enough to let himself wait to see if it would happen again.

"K-Kiba… ah… _fuck_, Kiba…"

"BARK!"

Both shinobi flinched, pulling away from each other as they took notice of the dog in front of them, wagging his tail happily at them, his tongue lagging. Kiba became flustered, suddenly aware that he was busy licking and biting Sasuke's neck, while Sasuke stared at Akamaru, as if he'd never seen a dog before in his life.

"Akamaru! I—" Kiba began to say defensively to his best friend as Sasuke picked up one of his freshly sharpened shuriken, which he promptly threw at Akamaru, who jumped out the way just in time.

Kiba looked at the alert Uchiha. "What the fuck are you doing?! That's—!"

"Not Akamaru," said Sasuke, standing up and pulling his sword out, his grip tight around the hilt. "This one barks differently than Akamaru; its bark is slightly more high-pitched. In addition, this one had sharper and darker claws than Akamaru really has, and its fur looks to be coarser than Akamaru's really is." Kiba blinked, his eyes focusing on the facts Sasuke had just pointed out for him. It did look a lot like Akamaru, but Sasuke was right—it wasn't. It didn't even _smell _like Akamaru, not really; just close enough so that on a first-sniff he would think it was. He growled, standing up, completely on his guard. He was glad that Sasuke had an eye for spotting fakes—if he hadn't, then they probably would've been killed by a very bad henge user.

The fake Akamaru exploded in a puff of smoke, and out of the smoke an unmarked shinobi lunged at them, a long, curved kunai knife in his hands. Sasuke pulled his sword from its sheathe, stopping the blades movements easily and pushing him off. Whirling around, Sasuke kicked the shinobi square in the chest, throwing him back and making him land on the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. Sasuke turned to Kiba, not giving him time to think as he opened his palm, running his sword down it and slicing it open, wincing in pain. "Kiba; smell me."

"What?" he asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes and took two large steps to him, grabbing the back of his head and forcing his nose to brush against his sliced palm. He pushed away just as quickly, placing his hand over his nose.

"What the _fuck_?!" he yelled, wiping Sasuke's blood off the tip of his nose. All he could smell was his blood now; he couldn't smell anything else. He knew it'd pass in a few moments, but considering the situation now, his nose was needed!

Sasuke was already turning around, but he turned slightly to face Kba again, his onyx eyes taking on its usual coldness, which Kiba hadn't seen all week. This was the first moment that Kiba was really figuring out that there really were two Sasuke's—there was the one he'd grown up alongside, the asshole; and then there was the one who was kind and funny and, well, emotional.

"Go find Akamaru. I'll deal with him, and then I'll come and find you. If you know my scent, you'll be able to tell whether or not it's really me. I already gave Akamaru a sample of my scent before, so if you don't recognize me, he will. Now go. Get out of here."

"But, I…"

"Dammit, Kiba, my mission is to protect _you_," said Sasuke, gritting his teeth in frustration and rising anger. "I can't do that if I'm fucking worried about you getting hurt in a fight that's two feet away from you!"

A breaking twig alerted him that he couldn't afford to keep talking. Sasuke turned around just in time to match the shinobi's strike with his own punch, grabbing his hand after dropping his sword in a split second decision. Growling under his breath, he brought up his knee, kicking the shinobi in the stomach and forcing him to jump away. Sasuke picked up his sword again, activating his Sharingan. He whipped around, his blood red eyes almost feral in the opinion of Kiba. "KIBA, FUCKING _LEAVE NOW!_" he barked.

Much to his own surprise, he did exactly as he was told, turning on the balls of his foot and running full-tilt away from their fight, leaping up into the trees, following his nose in the direction the shinobi must've come from. He wanted to stay and help Sasuke, but he knew he'd only get in the way and threaten the mission—Sasuke was correct; his purpose on this mission was solely to protect _him_, not the other way around. Therefore, Sasuke could handle himself—he had to, Kiba needed him to. Right now, he was needed in another sense. He was needed to help Akamaru. Akamaru was somewhere in the woods, more than likely being held hostage, probably hurt. He needed help _now. _He needed to be found.

"Shit, _Akamaru_!" he called, his worry growing each passing second he went without finding the ninken. He was trying to channel all his energy from worrying over Sasuke into finding Akamaru, but not finding him was only making his worry get worse. It was getting hard for him to even breathe, it was so bad. And to think, he'd been thinking that he wouldn't care if Sasuke died just last week…

Oh, shit—what if Sasuke _died_?

He wanted to stop and think about such an idea, but a flash of foreign, yet familiar, worry went through his heart. It was Akamaru. He was close, close enough for their mental connection to kick-start once more. He sent chakra to his nose, increasing its sensitivity so he could broaden his range of search, as well as fueling his step with chakra. It was all too easy for him to slip into his man-beast mode, all too easy for him to block out all human thoughts—it was replaced with simpler ideas, ideas such as that he'd kill whoever thought it a good idea to fuck with them; fuck with _him_.

His thoughts fully merged with Akamaru, who, when he was in the man-beast mode, thought more like a human than he could. Akamaru was scared—no, that was an understatement. He was _terrified, _and he was in pain. Kiba growled and whistled, hoping to get an immediate response, which he did—almost right below him. He was so clouded with fury that he almost didn't realize that Akamaru was right underneath him.

Without fully thinking it through, he grabbed the branch he was about to land on, his nails biting into the wood as he threw himself down with immense power he knew stemmed from irritation, chakra, and a desire to keep his friends safe. He growled before he made contact with an unsuspecting shinobi, his claws digging into the ninja's neck, drawing blood almost immediately. They collapsed, him on top, digging his claws into the man's shoulders and holding him in place as he head-butted him as hard as he could, immediately breaking open the ninja's forehead. "Who the fuck sent you?" he growled as the man screamed in agony.

"YAKUSHI K-KABUTO!" the shinobi said, knowing better than to beat around the bush or lie to Kiba.

"Did he tell you who you were attacking?!"

"YES! THE UCHIHA AND… AND SOME GUY WITH A DOG!"

"You're attacking _Inuzuka Kiba_, asshole!" Kiba growled, pulling back his arm and slashing the shinobi in the face, causing him more pain. He was angry, angrier than he'd ever remembered being before in his life and it was because the people he cared about had their lives threatened in practically the same moment. He moved to strike again, only to feel something… furry clamp around his wrist, stopping his movements. He turned slightly, a low growl in the back of his throat that stopped the moment he made eye contact with his ninken.

Akamaru showed his dislike for the display of violence Kiba was exhibiting by lightly biting him, and he was begging him to calm down, to not brutalize that man. Kiba sighed shakily, feeling a rush of relief as he allowed himself to calm down, listening to his best friend with no hesitation. He got off of the man, his fingernails dripping with blood. The man cried out in relief, which Kiba disliked so much that he pulled a kunai out of his pouch, tossing it carelessly and accurately into the man's forehead, effectively and quickly killing him.

_"__Kiba…" _began Akamaru.

"No, not now," said Kiba, brows creased with worry, holding up his hand. Akamaru didn't like it when he killed unnecessarily. He understood why, but he was too mad to care, too worried to care. He was too worried about Sasuke to care. He'd left him all alone to deal with whatever was coming. He needed to be helped. "We're going back to our campsite. Sasuke's dealing with something huge, and I know he needs help. I'll lead the way."

* * *

Obito knew _he_ got loose with alcohol, but he didn't realize just how loose his friends got when inebriated. Well, that wasn't true. Shizuka didn't get very loose—he just got more relentless when teasing him, if it were possible—but Hanabi definitely got loose. She didn't dance all over people, nor did she really slur, but she got a hell of a lot more… touchy. For instance, usually, Hanabi minded it when people touched her leg, or her arm, or played with her hair; though the closer you were to her, the less and less she minded. Hanabi, drunk, didn't mind that someone was touching her. She actually liked to be touched—which was shown when she forced her way into Obito's lap, and then proceeded to force him to place his free hand on her upper thigh.

Shizuka raised an eyebrow at the forwardness of his young friend, stopping in the middle of the crude joke he was reciting to the group they'd managed to amass. Obito blushed deeply, hiding his face behind her shoulder, only his dark brown eyes visible. Shizuka showed light amusement and sudden understanding in the depths of his dark grey orbs as he continued on with his joke, ignoring the face Konohamaru was making at the young Hyūga's actions.

"What're you doing?" Obito whispered into Hanabi's ear, biting on his bottom lip as Hanabi looked back at him, an alcohol-induced blush on her cheeks. She gave a slow, easy-going smile, and moved to be flusher against Obito's body. He resisted the urge to swear—he was almost sure that his resistance against a hard-on was failing horribly, especially when her dark blue tank top rolled up to reveal the lightly tanned skin of Hanabi's hips.

"What I want," she replied mischievously, placing a hand on the back of his. "Why? What do you think I'm doing, _O-bi-to-kun_?"

It was in that moment that Obito realized that she wasn't just a touchy drunk. She was a _flirty_ drunk. Completely in control; but flirty nonetheless.

"Asking for one of your family members who are probably here to come over here and kick my ass," he supplied in a soft tone, keeping their conversation as private as humanly possible. He knew Konohamaru wanted to hear whatever it was that Hanabi was telling him, and what he was telling her; and he definitely didn't want _him_ in the conversation. He didn't want to fight Konohamaru if it wasn't necessary, and it definitely didn't seem necessary—given the way Hanabi was acting.

She giggled lightly, which was actually well-timed—Shizuka just hit the punch-line of the joke, and the rest of the group laughed. "Probably, but not what I'm trying intentionally for, sorry." Her fingertip stroked the back of Obito's hand. "Would you like to know what I'm doing?" she purred.

_For the love of all that's holy, yes. _

"It'd be nice," he managed to choke out, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Hmm…" Hanabi said, as if she was actually contemplating the prospect, which Obito honestly thought she lacked the capability to do at this juncture. "I'll think about telling you… if you get up, and you dance with me. And don't tell me some bullshit excuse, like you can't dance. I never said you have to be amazing at it, though I bet you are, given the way you can move with your taijutsu techniques, and I know you're musical, too, because you can sing."

"You've heard me sing?" he asked, eyes widening in mortification.

"No; I've heard you hum. But I asked Shikamaru if you could sing, and he said 'most definitely, though the kid's got it in his head that he somehow sucks. It's too troublesome to change his mind'," Hanabi responded, shrugging. _And she's more talkative when she's drunk, too_…_ not that she isn't usually, but damn… _he thought, filing in the back of his mind for later reference. "But it doesn't matter. All I want you to do is dance with me, and I'll tell you exactly what I'm doing. It's my only condition."

Shit. She had him in a corner. She knew exactly how to manipulate him. When had she learned such a devious skill?

"Better damned well be," he muttered, tapping her thigh lightly, as a signal for her to get her ass off of his lap, and putting down his cup. "Zuka. I'm gonna go dance with her."

Shizuka's head whipped around so fast that Obito momentarily feared it detached from his body, but it was the hard look in Shizuka's eye that he feared more. "You better damned well keep it in your damned pants, Obito," he said fearsomely. _Note to self: Shizuka gets more protective the drunker he gets. _"Not that I'm not happy for you, but she's fifteen. _Keep it in your pants_!"

"Shizu. I said I was gonna go dance with her, not rape her," he responded, raising an eyebrow at his friend, "Relax. It's only a dance, right?"

Shizuka stared at him, and suddenly chuckled, scarily enough. "Yeah. You're right. What the hell could possibly happen?" he said, clapping Obito on the back. The Nara stared at him for a second, noting his quick and unwarned emotional switches, and then shook his head, getting up from the log and walking over to where Hanabi waited, hands on her hips. She grinned at him and pushed that stubborn lock of hair behind her ear, grabbing him by the hand and pulling them into the crowd. He would've preferred to stay on the outside edge, but it was probably better that they went inside of it—he didn't want Konohamaru watching them.

Hanabi forced him to place his hands on her hips, pressing her back against him (which, on a closer inspection, was admittedly how every person in this crowd seemed to be dancing, but seemed weird for a Hyūga, in his opinion) and began to sway her hips smoothly to the rhythm. He sucked in a breath, noticing how Hanabi angled her face away from him so the long expanse of her neck was visible. He tightened his grip on her, feeling himself lose a little bit more self-control. Maybe Shizuka was right in warning him to keep it in his pants—she was just an enticing little minx, and she had an all-too-powerful hold on him.

_Remain strong remain strong remain strong—_

"I'm trying to seduce you," she whispered as she turned her face towards him, craning her neck so her head rested on his shoulder. "I wanted to wait until you made a move, but I decided that wasn't going quickly enough. That; and I'm a little tipsy." 'A little tipsy' sounded like the understatement of the year, but he ignored it as he tried to remember how breathing worked, his mantra long since thrown aside.

She was seducing him? Little Hyūga Hanabi knew how to seduce someone? Holy shit. She was good at it, he figured out, better than he thought someone with as little sexual experience as her should have, but he didn't realize she'd been doing it intentionally.

"I read something in those Icha-Icha novels Kakashi-san has on his bookshelf at his house, while I was sitting his son for him. I thought it sounded interesting."

Damn that Jiraiya. He was just the biggest influence, wasn't he?

"What did this entail, pray tell. Dancing like this against me? Sitting on me? Getting me drunk? How did you want this to go?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the kunoichi in his arms.

Usually, he wouldn't have been so calm about this. He would be throwing reason after reason as to why they shouldn't be doing anything this quickly, despite her age. But… he would admit it; he was pretty drunk himself. His definition of right-and-wrong wasn't as enforced as it usually would be, especially with Hanabi, the only girl he'd ever been in love with, in his arms, clearly wanting him to do something with her. Something that would make his thirteen-year-old self try to kick his ass.

"Well," she said, licking her lips and giving him a lick on the tip of his earlobe, which was about as much as she could reach with the way his head was turned, "I never said I'd go into specifics, Obi-kun."

She moved to angle her face away, but he grabbed her by the back of her head, tangling his fingers in the long brown locks. Biting his own lip slightly, he dipped his head down and gave her a closed-mouth kiss—only the second kiss he'd ever given in his life and only the second kiss Hanabi had ever received in her own life. Unlike the first one, this was sweeter, more focused on pleasure and patience and care, unlike the harsh, angry, pent-up kiss he'd given her what felt like so long ago.

Her hand traveled down to the only hand still tightly gripping her hips, managing to weave her own slim fingers between his, pushing her hips back against his, craning her neck more as she passed her tongue over his bottom lip. He didn't fight her, opening his mouth and allowing her passage, and allowed her to dominate the kiss—he didn't mind, she tasted good and besides, it let him know that he wasn't taking advantage of her. The last thing he wanted was to force something on her that she didn't like, which was the reason why he allowed her to control the pace of their kissing, and he would put his foot down should she try to go any further. Shizuka was right; she was still very young, too young for him to allow himself to think with his dick—though she definitely had the body and movements of an adult.

He wasn't sure if he could truly control himself if they went too far. He was already losing control of his chakra—his dōjutsus was randomly activating and deactivating themselves, giving him the crystal clarity of both the Rinnegan and the Sharingan at randomized intervals, even giving him the power of the last great ocular jutsu that he had sworn up and down to the Hokage that he didn't still have—the Byakugan. He had somehow, inexplicably to him, managed to retain the powerful ocular jutsu, even though it was supposed to be a temporary form of it. He limited its use, seeing as how it required more chakra to use than his natural-born kekkei genkai, but it was very useful.

For instance, it allowed him to see the shinobi up in the tree, pulling back on a bow formed out of chakra, ready to strike him through his abdomen, trying to take both him and her out at the same time.

He abruptly broke off their kiss, the Byakugan still active, and pushed Hanabi out of the way, forcing his chakra points to send out an electrical current through his body in order to stop the chakra-formed arrow in its tracks. He could still feel some of the intended blow, on his insides, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't ignore it. The crowd began to scatter, all of them shocked by the attack made. Obito turned around, glaring up at the man in the tree.

"God-fucking-_dammit_," he whispered angrily to himself, "Can't I get a fucking _break_ sometimes?"

* * *

"Oh, Sasuke-kun. You've gotten a little bit weaker since the last time I saw you. That's disappointing, though it's to be expected; considering you severely limit yourself by being in Konoha instead of with me."

Sasuke groaned, his entire vascular-muscular system screaming out in pain as he forced himself to get up, grabbing his bleeding side and picking back up his sword. He was fighting, but all he wanted to do was sleep. It was the vicious snake venom doing it to him, he knew, and the best thing he could do was try to keep awake, to keep fighting, even if fighting meant his death. The venom was making it hard for him to keep his Sharingan active, but he pushed past the pain, focusing on one fact: he had someone he needed to keep safe. Whether or not this person was currently after him was of no consequence. Kiba was important to him. Kiba needed to be kept safe.

He pressed his hand against his side, trying to stop the freely flowing blood gushing out of the wound, the black high-collared sleeveless shirt halfway soaked with his blood. He already felt light-headed and weak, and he was slowly losing control over his chakra. He could feel Orochimaru and Madara both pushing at his consciousness, intentionally trying to break him so one of them might get his body. While he knew that wasn't completely a good thing, the fact that they wanted his body meant that they were healing him, just enough for him to continue pushing forwards.

The snake-like man in front of him clapped, laughing at the pain the former Uchiha Avenger was currently dealing with. Sasuke glared at him, activating his Mangekyō for just a second in order to use the Amaterasu, setting one of Kabuto's hands on fire with the black flames. Kabuto merely looked down at it with a wide grin, quickly (and disgustingly) shedding his skin, stepping out of his thin and easily opened robes as he let go of it, coming out just as scaly, but now slimy and completely in the nude. Kabuto made a tsking sound at him, picking up the robe he had chosen to drop before the flames could touch it, slipping it back onto his sickeningly pale and scaly body. Kabuto was a disgusting man, and he was the worst evil of Orochimaru's demented mind.

And, currently, he was winning. His smile slipped off moments before he reached out to Sasuke, a snake flying from his sleeve. Sasuke reacted quickly, slicing downwards with his katana, cleaving off the snake's head, and taking a step back, one hand still pressed against his wound, gritting his teeth as his Sharingan continuously kept him as ahead of the fight.

"You're certainly trying your best, Sasuke-kun, despite the fact that you're about a step away from your grave," Kabuto sneered, his voice practically a hiss. "Is it because of Naruto-kun that you're like this? Or… is it because of the Inuzuka I can practically _taste_ the stench of on your clothing?"

"Leave him _out_ of this," he growled through his pants, glaring at Kabuto. Stupid reaction, he knew, but just the _sound_ of Kabuto's voice sounded like a threat to Kiba's safety.

"So it is, isn't it, Sasuke?" said Kabuto, taking a careful step to the right; Sasuke taking a careful step to the left. "I always suspected you had homosexual tendencies, Sasuke, but I would've figured you would have better taste than a dirty mutt. You are so far out of his league that it isn't worthy of joking about it. In terms of power, Sasuke, he doesn't even deserve the dirt off your shoe. Even Naruto-kun would make more sense for you rather than some mongrel like an Inuzuka. You and I; we are so far beyond him. We are _light years_ ahead of him in terms of strength."

"There is no _you and I_, Yakushi. We are not friends, nor are we comrades. We are enemies. You are an enemy of the Leaf village," Sasuke responded, the two of them circling each other.

"That village severely undervalues your capabilities as a shinobi, Sasuke. They always have undervalued such wondrous clans, yours and the Hyūga. The Inuzuka are no different from the rest of the village who so violently shunned you and chased you to Orochimaru and to me, who welcomed you with such open arms and will welcome you again."

"Boo-_fucking_-hoo. Fuck you, Kabuto," spat Sasuke, biting his bottom lip to withhold his groans of pain, his Sharingan flickering on and off. His chakra was dangerously low, and his pain was only getting worse and worse… Kabuto glared at him, and before Sasuke even knew it, he had him by the throat, holding him a good foot in the air, his snakes slithering out of his robe's sleeve and going down Sasuke's arm, to the opening of his sleeveless shirt and to his torso, biting him at randomized intervals. The feeling of the venom only got worse—it became like liquid fire in his veins, and he wanted to scream out in pain.

"Come back with me, and I can treat your wounds. I have an antidote to this venom," Kabuto hissed, moving his lips creepily close to Sasuke's, his breath sour and revolting. Sasuke grabbed Kabuto by the wrist, even going as so far as to drop his sword. While Kabuto hadn't been looking, he'd used another summoning contract, bringing in several snakes of his own; creatures he didn't want a contract with, but had due to the fact that Orochimaru did.

The snakes flew up Kabuto's robe sleeves, injecting their own venom into his body. Kabuto groaned in pain, letting go of the Uchiha, who crumpled to the ground, gasping in pain. He was going to die. He was going to die. He didn't want to die…

"_SASUKE_!"

Before Kabuto knew what was happening, three kunai were imbedded in his arm, the tip of one showing on the other side of his arm, ripping in half the tendons of his elbow, as well as shattering the bones and joints. He howled in pain, leaping back and away from Sasuke. Kiba landed in front of the Uchiha, pulling shuriken out of his thigh holster and not hesitating in throwing them at Kabuto. Kabuto cursed, leaping out of the way. Kiba growled at him, more man than beast at the prospect of the Uchiha being hurt. Sasuke looked up at the male with bleary, half-focused black eyes, on the edges of consciousness.

"I _will_ have him!" Kabuto screamed at him, deciding to fall back for that moment, knowing his injuries needed immediate attention. Throwing down a smoke bomb, he disappeared in a flash. Akamaru moved to go after him, but Kiba was otherwise focused—on Sasuke.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he said, falling to his knees besides the male, his eyes showing the panic he was feeling. He could tell just by looking at him that Sasuke was hanging onto the cusps of life by his fingernails, and by the looks of things, he was losing his grasp. He stumbled to his feet, running over to his and Sasuke's packs, both of which were right where they had left them. Bringing them back over to Sasuke, he ripped both of them open with his nails and teeth, wasting no time in finding the two sets of first aid kits they'd packed, as well as the extra clothing and some bottles of water.

Unzipping the black shirt, he poured water onto Sasuke's largest wound, making the Uchiha groan from the coldness. Fumbling with his fingers, he opened the kit, managing to find surgical stitching thread and a needle. He did the best he could, given the circumstances, with the stitching of Sasuke's wound, but the wound itself was made up of several different cuts of varying depth and length, and it was pouring more blood than a simple, but panicked, stitching could take care of. Ripping apart one of his shirts, he pressed it into the wound before placing gauze on top, and doing his best to wrap Sasuke up.

Sasuke seemed to see him. "K-Ki…"

"Shut up!" screamed Kiba, not realizing that tears were pouring down his face. He hadn't cried like this since his father had left him, back when he was just a little kid. "Don't fucking speak, Sasuke! Just fucking shut up! You need to fucking live, and you need to shut the fuck up!"

He hoisted him up; doing his best to ignore the loud groan of pain the Uchiha gave as he placed him onto Akamaru's back, using the rest of his tattered clothing to tie Sasuke down to Akamaru. He didn't need to hear what Sasuke had to say. He didn't want to. He already had an idea what it would be. He already knew Sasuke had snake venom running rampant in his system—he could smell the damn substance. It was pungent.

"I'm gonna get you help, Sasuke! Just don't fucking speak! Save your breath and your fucking strength! Akamaru, let's fucking go!"

He leaped into the trees, his ninken not far behind at all, tears dripping freely and unhinged down his face. He was terrified, and he was angry—at himself. Why hadn't he gotten back to him sooner? Sasuke looked like he was put through _torture_. He looked like death!

_Don't die on me_, he silently begged, pushing chakra to his feet to move forwards, putting more into his nose in order to find some semblance of civilization sooner in this Godforsaken forest. _Please, don't die on me. Sasuke, don't leave me. Please. I'm sorry for everything, and I love you, and I need you… just don't die on me, Sasuke, please don't leave me. Please._

* * *

**_Lotsa kissing in this chappie... I enjoyed writing both scenes. Sorry if some people think I've rushed Hanabi and Obito's relationship, but I think I spent ample time in Of Strength with its buildup. Sasuke and Kiba's relationship is still building up, so don't yell at me for rushing the magic, pls n thnx. lol. _**

**_ONE more chapter after this for the week. _**


	15. Chapter 14: Anxiety

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. And I apologize about the length of this chapter; they were two separate parts but they were ridiculously short and so I just couldn't post them individually. ENJOY!  
**

* * *

_ANXIETY _

_/aNG'zī-itē/_

_a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome; a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension._

* * *

Hanabi, upon being pushed back by Obito, immediately went into defense mode, knowing that he wouldn't push her needlessly, especially if they were making out. Foreign shinobi began to descend upon the party, moving to attack random people, uncaring who. Thankfully, some of the partygoers did bring basic weapon-summoning scrolls, not leaving them completely defenseless, such as the case of Shizuka. Of course, then there were people like her—people who worked just fine with or without weapons, using their flexibility as their weapon, and she used it well.

A shinobi sneaking up on Moegi became the focus of her frustrations, and she took off in a start, her Byakugan activated as she leaped up, grabbing them by the chin and cutting off the chakra lines going to his head before she slammed it down into the ground as hard as she could. The ground, being soft and pliant, did absorb a majority of the impact, but she did get the result she wanted—she knocked the man unconscious.

Moegi turned around, flicking a glance at the younger girl. "Thanks."

Hanabi returned with a curt nod. "No problem. Three-o'clock." Moegi blinked, whipping around and thrusting the heel of her palm into the man's throat, making him drop like a rock as he tried to get a breath. Hanabi turned her back to her, slipping into her familiar stance as she looked around. "Need help, I take it?"

"It'd be appreciated. I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine."

Hanabi shook her head. "Trust me, that's _not _an issue I have a problem with." She turned on the ball of her foot, grabbing the approaching shinobi by the arm and using his momentum against him, flipping him over her shoulder and onto his back. Moving quickly, she snaked her leg around his throat, constricting as tightly as she could as he fought against her. She grabbed the arm he was trying to grab her hair with, pulling back quickly and popping it out of its socket, driving him up the walls with pain.

He lost consciousness as another shinobi came up behind her. She slipped her leg out and rolled to the side just in time, sending chakra to her leg and brushing hers against his, shutting down the systems within it and causing him to collapse in a scream of pain. Jumping to her feet once more, she simply kicked the opponent in the head, knocking him immediately unconscious.

"How many are there?" she called to Moegi, who had somehow managed to find Udon, both of them against one shinobi.

"Who the hell knows? Worry about your six o'clock!" Moegi yelled back. Six—her blind spot. Moving blindly, she jumped up, flipping in the air as the shinobi passed right where she was, grabbing his shoulders with her outstretched hands. Expecting his next move to be to grab her hands, she slipped further down, grabbing him by the hips and wrapping her leanly muscled legs around his neck, pulling back on him with a grit of her teeth.

It was an awkward positioning, and it wasn't as successful as her normal one, but with one harsh punch to the back of his dick, between his open legs, he was on his knees, and she twisted around, placing her hands on the dirt and tightening her grip, constricting around his throat. Within moments, he went lax, and she let him go, gasping for breath as she collapsed onto her stomach, breathing heavy. She didn't have the time to focus on her lack of oxygen—more shinobi were coming, and they were moving quickly.

_I hope Obito's okay_, she found herself wondering as she launched herself at them.

* * *

He took off towards the tree, running up it with speed alone and jumped off the trunk, throwing the shuriken he'd thought to bring along with him into the leaves, two of which hit the shinobi on the arm and in the chest. He barked out a cry, falling out of the tree and pulling back on his bow again, releasing a chakra arrow that whizzed right past Obito's head, taking off some of his hairs.

Obito deactivated his Byakugan, bringing forth the Sharingan in its place. Time seemed to slow down as the shinobi pulled back again, giving him more than enough time to pull out another shuriken, throwing it with accuracy at the back of the man's hand, drawing blood and causing him to falter on the release of the arrow and fall out of the tree.

Obito turned in the air, landing on his hands and grabbing at the soft dirt, managing to pull up some of the grass. He looked around himself, surprised to find more than one enemy shinobi in the area. He had been so busy with this one that he hadn't even noticed any of them. He greatly disliked not knowing what was going on in his surroundings, so the fact only pissed him off more.

"Why the hell are you here? Who're you working for? What is your objective?" he grounded out, crouching down close to the ground in order to get his thigh muscles ready for the extreme movement that was his particular brand of taijutsu.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" growled the shinobi with a smirk evident in his voice, his mask hiding his facial features from Obito. Obito growled under his breath, preparing to speak again, but a movement in his peripherals had him ducking to avoid feeling the impact of the two shinobi flying overhead, both of them crashing against the shinobi he was trying to get information out of. He raised an eyebrow incredulously, a sigh of slight irritation touching his lips.

"Sorry, buddy, I didn't mean to get in your way," said the all-too-familiar voice of Shizuka, who came up besides him with his katana in his hand, which Obito was almost vaguely sure he hadn't had with him to begin with, but decided to ignore. "I just hit him too hard and the guy just _flew_."

"Maybe it's just 'cause you're drunk that you lost control over yourself, man, korre," interrupted Konohamaru, flanking Obito's left side. Obito sighed and stood up; deciding he didn't want to be towered over by either shinobi, even though crouching down low would help him.

"Where's Nabi-chan?" he asked, turning to Shizuka.

"She's taking on a couple of her own, with Moegi's help. I think this is the first time she and Moegi have stopped fighting each other a second in order to fight together," Shizuka said. "I think Udon's helping, so they're not really fighting alone. They've got this. Let's focus on these guys."

Obito sighed. "You sure she's okay?"

"Positive. Right, Konohamaru?" Shizuka asked, forcing the Nara to turn to face the Sarutobi, who nodded in agreement.

"Fine. Gotta say though, this is the first time I'm fighting anyone slightly drunk," said Obito with a slight frown, activating his Rinnegan in his right eye. "I might not exactly hit the right guy all the time." Of course, this was mainly just an excuse for him to 'accidentally' hit Konohamaru occasionally, but he didn't have to know that. Shizuka caught on too easily and sighed, obviously resisting the urge to smack his friend upside the head, but said nothing.

"Who's first?" Konohamaru asked, pulling a kunai out of his back pouch. "Or are we asking questions first, korre?"

"Already tried. He wouldn't answer." Obito smirked. "I guess they need some persuasion some sort. I can provide it well enough." He dug his back foot into the ground, trying to gain leverage to push off of with enough power to obtain the speed he needed. His hands flew into the all-to-necessary hand seals, crouching down low once more as he pressed his feet down further, the cold, wet dirt finding homes in the spaces between his toes. The chirping of birds filled the air, the warm sensation of the Chidori, which he had managed to copy off of Uchiha Sasuke during the first and only Chūnin exam Shikamaru had ever taken a few years ago; surrounding his hand.

Without warning either shinobi flanking him, he lunged forwards, gaining just the right amount of speed as he reached the enemy shinobi, his hand gliding like a knife through warm butter through the body of the shinobi. They screamed out in pain as the lightning blade ripped through their chest, creating a cavity through them. The other two shinobi moved to leap at him, kunai drawn as they went to cut at him, only to be deflected by the quickly-moving Shizuka, holding his katana with only one hand. He placed his foot on Obito's back, using that to push off and fully deflect them. Turning his sword in a constricted arc, he cut through the masked cheek of one of the shinobi. The other free shinobi moved to kick his feet out from underneath him, to which he reacted by jumping up and kicking him in the face, sending him flying in the direction of Konohamaru, who, after creating a shadow clone, curtain-lined him.

Obito pulled his hand out of the man's chest cavity, accidentally bumping backs with Shizuka. The two wasted no time in hooking their arms together, Shizuka bending over and sending Obito over his back, allowing him to kick the man currently trying to kill Shizuka in the chest and send him back. He then planted his feet against the ground, grabbing Shizuka's upper arms and gritting his teeth as he threw his best friend across the field, assisting the boy in plunging his blade into the man's chest.

Obito's eyes widened in shock at the action Shizuka just made, everything slowing down in an instant. He didn't want to see that. It was bad enough he was a killer. It was bad enough he constantly had blood on his hands. Shizuka didn't need to, too. He yanked the katana out of the man's chest, his lifeblood immediately gushing out of the wound, and he turned around to Obito, a shaky smile on his face. Obito could tell that he was, internally, dying—after all, as far as he knew, Shizuka had never killed before. Injured, maimed; yes. Killed, no. He fell to his knees, grabbing his stomach as he puked up the contents of his stomach, his vomit interesting colors due to the varying alcoholic beverages he had consumed.

Obito ran over to his friend, crouching beside him and patting his back reassuringly. Killing was not an experience he wanted Shizuka to have. He wasn't made for taking lives; he was made for saving them. His vomiting only got more violent, and Obito felt bad for his best friend. "Don't fight it. Just let it come up; it'll hurt you less," he said gently. Konohamaru called his name from across the field, but he ignored him, choosing to focus on his friend.

The violent vomiting only turned into equally violent sobbing as he began to quiver, letting go of his abdomen to dig his fingers into the dirt, arching his back as he cried, vomit still dripping from his bottom lip.

"That's better. Just breathe, evenly, and slowly. Let it come out. Breathe and let it out. I'll take care of the body, Shizu. It'll be gone in a minute. I'll be back in a minute, right after I deal with it, and I go to Konohamaru. Nod if you're hearing me."

Shizuka didn't look up, but he nodded just like Obito told him too, making him sigh in relief. Making only one hand seal for a simple Fire Release ninjutsu, which easily consumed the shinobi's body in flames, he quickly achieved his promised goal.

He walked over to Konohamaru, who had avoided killing ninja in favor for roping him up with his own scarf. Konohamaru was frowning, his arms crossed over his chest as Obito came close. "He said he works for Kabuto, Obito," he told him in an oddly quiet voice, his dark eyes betraying no emotion. Obito shrugged—he'd already figured that much out—and Konohamaru continued, "He said that he brought a message for the Uchiha. You're part Uchiha, so I thought you should know."

Obito stared at him for a second and then nodded, crouching down in front of the man. "You have a message for the clan, you can come through me first," he said in a dangerous tone, crossing his arms over his chest. He uncrossed his arms to yank ninja's mask off, showing a person with a face that appeared to belong to a person younger than himself. "How old are you?"

"T-Thirteen," admitted the boy in a fragile voice that was too forced for Obito to believe, "I was forced to do this. Please, don't kill me."

"I won't, if you tell me exactly what I want to know," he said, putting his elbows on his knees. "Start talking if you have a message for my clan."

The boy sighed shakily in relief—either he was a wonderful actor or he was sincerely scared; his vote was on the former—and whispered, "The Avenger's in the snake's den. I don't know what that means, but it was for the Uchiha from my boss. Please, please let me go."

He was begging, but Obito could barely hear him. He was not, by any means of the imagination, a moron. His mind quickly figured out the simple code, his eyes widening in surprise and fear. It was… scary. The news was completely fucking scary; there was no other way to describe it.

Obito could sense the landing of a few shinobi—hopefully, higher ups. He signaled for Konohamaru to get the boy to his feet, and he turned around himself, facing the ANBU coming. The sight of indigo blue hair immediately acted to reassure him, allowing him to release the tension in his shoulders. The woman with the Owl mask nodded at him, recognizing him as he recognized her, though neither would make known that he, in fact, knew the ANBU's identity. As not to arouse any sort of suspicion and to get straight to the point, he said, "He's a hostage. Konohamaru caught him."

"And with his own scarf no less. Smart," said an ANBU with a Eagle mask. "Anyone see Cat?"

"Spotted him assisting a couple of girls over there. He was gonna help out little Hyūga and that orange-haired chick, but they had it down. Why'd you leave this one alive?" asked one with a Gorilla's mask.

"Look at him. He's thirteen, and he's scared out of his wits," said Obito, frowning, though he did doubt his own words and made sure that the look in his eyes displayed as much to the ANBU; he just wanted to lead the boy on. Besides, someone had to be a captive, and why not let it be this kid? "He's fucking scared. Killing him seemed like a stretch."

"You didn't care about the other ones," said Gorilla with a shrug.

"Shut up," interrupted Owl, her irritation showing in her voice. "Gorilla, take the kid to Ibiki. We'll figure out what he knows and what we're dealing with. Obito, did he say anything to you?"

"Yeah. The Avenger's in the snake's den," he said, his eyes hardening and his back stiffening as he walked past her, allowing her to digest the information as he walked over to Shizuka, putting his arm around his shoulders. He didn't have the energy in him to worry about the message. He didn't have the energy in him to do half of the things he wanted to, except for picking up his broken friend and helping him get home. At the very least, he figured that he could do one good deed to end this entirely fucking crazy night.

* * *

The pounding on Kakashi's door was enough to wake up the dead, and it did more than enough to rouse one of the two sleeping males inside the apartment. Hayato was the first to the door, as he woke up easier than his father, and went over to the door, pulling it open and opening his mouth to greet whomever was there, only for the uncharacteristically hard look in the female's eye to stop him. "H-Hinata-neechan? What're you…"

"Hayato, go get your father," she ordered, slipping past him into the house. The tone of her voice required him not to ask any questions, which he had a multitude of. Worried, he nodded, running down the hallway to his father's bedroom, yanking open the door and darting to his father's bed, the occupant having already gone back to sleep, probably after hearing that it was Hinata at the door. Not wanting to irritate Hinata further, he did the only thing an eight-year-old could think to do to wake up their parents quickly—he stuck his finger in his mouth and then stuck it in his father's ear. Kakashi sat bolt upright almost automatically, putting a hand to the cold wetness beginning to dribble out of his ear.

"Otōsan, Hina-neechan's here, and she's angry," he said as soon as his father got his bearings, before he could open his mouth to yell at the boy.

Kakashi's brow furrowed. "Hinata? Angry?" he asked, getting out of bed and pulling the sweatshirt on his bedpost onto his bare upper body, making up for the fact that he was only clad in boxers, walking out into the main room as he zipped up his sweatshirt part way, his mismatched eyes showing his confusion and concern for the girl clad in full ANBU uniform in the middle of his apartment. Hinata never came by dressed for duty, much less with her mask and sword in hand. She knew that Kakashi didn't want Hayato to know about his father's occupation. "What's wrong? What're you doing here?"

She could've said a million words. She could've drilled off the facts. She could've wasted precious time and energy explaining in colorful detail exactly why she was there. But that was both the best and worst thing about Hinata—she could do all of these things and more, but if she _really_ wanted to, she could get her message across using less than ten words, an ability she exploited right now:

"Sasuke's in danger. We need to get him. _Now_."

* * *

The four years spent having Uchiha Obito back in her life were the best four years of Nohara Rin's life. Without him, she had become a mere shadow of her old self, and she tried to fit the part, but it was such a hard thing for her to do. Without Obito by her side, life just wasn't as shiny anymore. It wasn't as attractive anymore. All around, it was disinteresting, and she was sure that if it hadn't been for the fact that Kakashi had leaned on her for the sake of his own sanity, she would've killed herself and left the silver-haired man with mismatched eyes all alone in the world.

She was glad Kakashi had depended so deeply on her—after all, he was the reason she'd been given back Obito.

Obito easily understood her, and he always did his best to appease her, the simple fact acting to appease her, in fact. When they made love, he always gave her ample time to back out, if she so chose—he understood that she was afraid of sex because of the war, and he didn't force her into anything. He allowed her to lead when she wanted, and when he led; he was a gentle and thorough lover, making sure to satisfy her before he sought his own pleasure. Whenever she was confronted with a particularly confusing task, he'd either help her through it, find a simpler way to achieve the same outcome, or take over for her, his patience showing. When she had told him she couldn't have children after the first few months of them being together, she'd expected him to be mad at her—instead; he smiled sheepishly and said:

"Well, I kind of figured the kids here were all ours, anyways."

The children of the orphanage all adored him, once they got past their initial fear of him due to the heavy scarring on the side of his face. Obito was fun, he was silly, and he was so unafraid to make an ass out of himself that the children just had to laugh with him—and they were always laughing with him, never at him; they wouldn't dare do something so disrespectful. The owner of the orphanage initially distrusted him, knowing who he was, but she quickly got over it as he proved how helpful he was when dealing with children. He could get any child to come out of their shell, and he was truly understanding of anything he came across.

He would've made a fine instructor at the Academy, if things hadn't happened how they happened. But they had, so she had to make do with this life. Obito seemed content enough with it, knowing the reason why he couldn't go back to Konoha. She could tell that he was somewhat sad that he'd done all these things (there was some initial heavy denial, but he'd grown to accept it) but he came to live with it.

Everyone in the orphanage trusted him, but they couldn't let him outside of the grounds. He could go up to the very edge, but no further. They couldn't risk outsiders seeing him. When people came seeking to adopt children, he was forced to hide in the unused wine cellar, which was made for a much shorter person than himself. They couldn't run the risk of him getting found by an enemy he had made during the war—which she could only assume there was plenty of—or by an ally of Iwagakure, who were by default all his enemy. Even when random, harmless travelers came by the village, he had to be hidden. He never complained about it, but it deeply and secretly frustrated him. He knew it was his own fault it had to be done, but that didn't mean he liked it. He hated it, and he hated more that he was so used to it. No one had to tell him; he just knew.

When the travelers with the dog came onto their lands in the middle of the night, he'd been awake, sitting up in bed and stroking Rin's bare back. He just couldn't get used to the magic that was their love-making. He was afraid to go to sleep and figure out it was just a dream. On the nights that they made love, he would always simply sit there afterwards, watching her and either listening to Rin breathing or listening to the sounds of the night, sometimes both. Being the only one awake, he easily heard the disturbing bark permeate the air. Resisting the urge to go to the window, he gently shook his lover awake.

"Rin. Rin, wake up," he said softly, watching her open one large brown eye.

"Obito… what…"

"Rin, there's someone here. I'm going to go hide, if you can deal with it." Rin nodded and sat up, Obito getting up off the bed as silently as he could and picking up her kimono and obi from the ground, holding it out for her, which she took appreciatively. He picked up his sweatpants, tugging them on quickly and then getting back on the bed for a moment to kiss the top of Rin's head. "Don't forget me down there."

"I never do," she whispered, placing her hand on the Uchiha's bare upper arm for a second before he pulled away, managing to sneak down the hall and down the stairs, making not one sound. He'd managed to figure out where every noisy floorboard was in the old estate after about five months of living there, and now the only noise he seemed to make was the nearly silent opening and closing of the wine cellar's trap door. Sighing, she got off her bed, tying the kimono shut with the obi gracelessly as she went down the stairs, moving on the balls of her feet to the door, sliding it open. Just as Obito swore, there was someone there—in fact, a person and a dog.

As soon as she opened the door, the pair moved forwards, something that looked like luggage hanging off the oversized dog's back. "I'm sorry," she said as she slipped out of the estate, sliding the door shut and allowing her to raise her voice, "We're not an inn or a halfway house. This is an orphanage, and we're not doing any open houses right now. I'm afraid you'll have to come back in the morning, in visiting hours!"

"NO!" yelled the male next to the dog, picking up his speed and surprising Rin somewhat with his rough voice. She bit her lip, holding back her anger at the stubborn man coming towards her.

"Yes, you will," she responded, raising her voice even more.

"No, you don't understand! My friend's hurt! He needs attention!"

"I'm sorry, but this is an orphanage, not a vet's office. There's one down the road that opens at six AM."

"Not fucking the dog, you _fucktard_! The guy on his back!" Rin squinted; staring at the dark patch hanging off the white dog's back, showing that it was, in fact, a person hanging off of him. "This is the first place for _miles_! I've done all the treatments I could, but I don't know what else to do! Please, let us in and help him!" He stopped at the steps, allowing Rin to get a good look at the boy. He had dark fang-shaped tattoos on his cheeks, showing her that he was of the Inuzuka—he was pretty far away from Konoha—and a worried look in his dark eyes, his lips chewed to shit from the obvious worry he was experiencing, his cheeks stained with… tears?

"I'm sorry, but I'm not a medic," she said. _In another life, maybe, but not this one. Not anymore. _

"Please, there's gotta be something you can do! Don't let him die! I didn't just run him more than twenty kilometers tonight to finally find someone and let him die!" begged the Inuzuka, falling to his knees as he pleaded, catching Rin off guard. The Inuzuka were all rather proud clansmen, to see one actually groveling at her for help was… shocking. He wrapped his arms around his midsection, bending over until his forehead touched the wooden step. Was he… was he breaking? Was he feeling such emotional turmoil that he was breaking on the inside?

"I can't—" she began to insist, only to be cut off by nearly nonsensical mutterings.

"Please, miss, please help him… please help my friend… he doesn't deserve to die… I can't let him die… I've only just gotten him… I need him… please, miss, I need him… I need Sasuke..."

The name was too familiar for it to be a coincidence. "Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked hesitantly, her fist forming tight.

The Inuzuka was too busy sobbing to hear her, but his canine companion heard her just fine, nodding in the affirmative and barking. Rin swallowed, walking down the steps to get a closer look of the Uchiha's injuries. The moonlight was nowhere near sufficient; but it was good enough for her to see that his injuries were far beyond any normal shinobi's capabilities of inflicting or treating, and judging by the slivers of color underneath the black shirt that was quickly staining red, he'd tried.

No wonder the Inuzuka was freaking out.

"Bring him inside," she ordered, standing up. That the Inuzuka heard, and he looked up at her with tear-filled, thankful eyes. "There's a couch in there, with blankets on it. Take them off and make him a make-shift bed on the ground, right next to the small table to the side. Then get off his tatters, so I can get a good look at him."

"Thank you," whispered the Inuzuka as he picked himself up, following after his ninken.

Rin sighed. "Don't thank me yet. I have no idea if I can save him," she muttered to himself.

She hadn't practiced the medical ninjutsu needed for this in years. She was rusty, and she wasn't sure if her capabilities would cut it. In the end, she figured it didn't matter. She needed to try. After all, when your best friend's student comes into your home with injuries like those, you do your best to save them, no matter how much you don't want to, because it's the least you can do.

* * *

Nara Obito was never a person to wish misery or death onto the good people he came into contact with, especially not the ones he considered to be a friend of his. He wouldn't wish for anyone to share the experiences he'd had to go through at the young age he was at, and so he didn't encourage any of the habits of his past. He disliked killing, but he knew it had its definite place within his life, and so he therefore tolerated it.

That did _not_ mean to say that he wanted his friend—his best friend, at that—to experience the pain and suffering that came with the first kill. No, he wanted his friend to retain most of his innocence; he wanted him to follow a much different path. After all, in the life of the shinobi, once someone kills for the first time, they are automatically predisposed to kill again. Certain people just, in his opinion, were not made for that. It wasn't their purpose in life.

Shizuka wasn't made for killing, yet he had killed.

He had yet to check on the status of Hanabi which, after having just kissed her, he really did want to do, but Shizuka's safety and mental wellbeing was his primary concern at this juncture. Shizuka's arm was around his neck, and he was barely carrying himself; half-dragged by Obito. His eyes were glazed over; their lively dark grey hues clouded by murkiness, making them seem practically black. His left arm hung limp at his side, their grip on the katana very slack. Obito worried, briefly, if he would drop it, but he seemed to have a good enough grip on the sheathe not to drop it. So he continued forwards, his arm tight around Shizuka's midsection, supporting his weight as he walked them through the moonlit streets of Konoha, ignoring the looks he was given in worry for the bloodied, disheveled state the both of them were in. Usually, looks would bother him, but he was more concerned about the mental distress of Shizuka than his own standing in the great social circle of Konohagakure.

It was almost a blessing when he finally managed to get a word out of Shizuka telling him where Genma's apartment was (of course, they had almost passed it, but that was not a fact Obito was focused on). Taking his time, Obito walked his friend up the stairs, moving more clumsily than he normally would due to the weight of Shizuka. Finally, about fifteen minutes later, he found himself rapping his knuckles on the green wooden door, his breathing heavy. Who knew that half-carrying someone and going up stairs at the same time would be half the work-out it was?

Genma opened the door after a few minutes, his eyes half-lidded due to sleep, but they quickly snapped open in concern of the sight in front of him. He moved to aside, allowing Obito to come in, showing the teenager to Shizuka's bedroom without using any words. Obito managed to sit Shizuka down on his bed, falling on his own ass to the ground. He really felt like throwing up. Walking for three kilometers with dead weight, with nothing to go on his stomach besides alcohol and a half of a cheese sandwich for a lunch that was hours ago, was not the smartest thing to do.

"What happened?" Genma asked, taking Shizuka's katana from his hand, speaking pointedly to Obito. Shizuka looked nowhere near responsive, so he didn't bother trying to ask him.

"There was an attack on the party we were at. We were fighting, and he killed one of the guys we were fighting against," Obito simplified, finally noticing that his entire hand was still covered with blood, much to his dismay. "He stabbed him clear through the chest with his sword. I cleaned it before I brought him here."

"The guy he killed, where's the body?" asked Genma, kneeling on the ground and yawning, looking at Obito.

"I got rid of it." He didn't specify, and he didn't want to. Genma nodded, accepting this fact. Instead, he looked at his adoptive little brother, who stared down at his hands, a dead look in his eyes. Just a few hours ago, Shizuka was close to normal, closer to normalcy than he was. He wasn't a killer. But now he was, and he just wasn't taking it well.

"You can stay here for tonight if you want," said Genma with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose, allowing his eyes to slide shut. "I can't offer you much better than the couch, but you're welcome to crash on it or something. I know you're worried about him, and your staying here would really help him."

Obito nodded in affirmative, understanding what Genma was saying. Genma was currently speaking from experience, and it made sense to him. After all, Shizuka needed concern right now, and as a person who had gone through the same thing _without_ concern (though he was at a younger age with a very limited understanding) he wanted to give Shizuka everything he couldn't have. "I'm gonna try talking to him before I crash. The bathroom's in the next room, between this one and my bedroom. You can get a shower in there—towels are in the closet across from the bathroom. I've got a couple of old shirts and pants lying around, from my friends. You can use them."

Obito nodded again. "Thanks."

"No problem," Genma shrugged off, returning his attention to the dead-faced teenager sitting on the bed, his overlong brown hair hanging almost in his eyes. Genma was more than used to the look in his eyes—it had been the same look Hayate in his eyes every time he came back from a dispatch mission. Hayate had never liked to take people's lives, either—he was made for it, but he hated having to be that man once in a while. He didn't want Shizuka to become as self-loathing as Hayate could be. Unlike his brother, despite the harder life he'd had so far, Shizuka wasn't built to take that kind of hatred. It would slowly, but surely, destroy him.

Genma sighed. "Shizuka, you did what you had to," he said, not bothering to see if he would even respond. "Whoever that little shit was they deserved it. You did it because you knew it was the best thing to do."

"I know." His voice was shockingly clear, and Genma frowned. He didn't _sound_ regretful, not in the least bit. "I know, Aniki."

Oh, shit. He really was upset, wasn't he, if he was giving him brother-like terms instead of his name? "Then why are you upset?" he asked, wishing he had his senbon to play with at that moment.

Shizuka sighed. "When I… when I stabbed him, I thought I was gonna feel something. Regret. Sorrow. Fear. Guilt. I dunno what, really. But what happened was… I felt… I felt so… _good_." Genma blinked. That had not been something he was expecting to hear. "The _rush_… Genma, it was… _indescribable_. It was exciting. I felt… I _feel_… so… _alive_." He swallowed. "I know what I was supposed to feel, and it's starkly different to what to what I did feel. I fear that I am a horrible person because… because I liked it. The regret I feel isn't because I did it—it's because I enjoyed doing it. The sorrow I feel is because… because I'm a _fucking monster_." His hands moved slowly to wrap around his midsection. "The guilt I feel is because… because I know Hayate would hate me for liking it. He would be so disgusted with me."

"No, he wouldn't," said Genma immediately, his brow furrowing. He had no idea what to say to Shizuka to reassure him about his liking of his first kill, but he did know how to stop him from feeling like he was the scum of the earth—because, truthfully, he wasn't. "Hayate had his share of kills in his life, Shizuka. He'd never hate you for this. Hayate wouldn't hate you for anything. You know he loved you. He fucking adored you; he raised you. He'd never let something like this stop him from loving you. He was never that type of person."

Shizuka turned his dark eyes to Genma's, some of their grey depths returning. "Do you hate me, Genm?"

"No. You're my little brother. I can't hate you, even when you piss me off. You know that, you moron," he replied, giving him a small smirk and patted the top of his head. Shizuka's frown wavered as he gave a small smile, Genma having broken through his barriers. "Go to sleep, kid. You've had one long-ass night, and if the stench in the room is any giveaway, you're gonna have one hell of a fucking hangover in the morning—you and Obito both." Shizuka nodded, and he sighed and stood up, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't worry about it, Shizuka. You're still the same guy. The fact you feel guilty about it, no matter what form you feel it in, shows that you're still a good man. Hayate would be proud of you for this."

"G… Genma?"

The shinobi stopped in Shizuka's doorway. "Hmm?"

"Erm… thanks."

Genma let a half-smile take up his face. "Anytime, Shizu."

* * *

The average human adult male contains an average 5.2 liters, which is about 8 pints, of blood in their body. That amount of blood, when one hears it aloud, sounds like a rather small amount given the size of the human body. It is easily calculable, and one can have that amount of liquid, in blood, sitting in their fridge at any given point. Truth be told, 5.2 liters truly isn't a lot of liquid—it is approximately five large bottles of soda, in fact—but when it comes to blood, it is a large amount of liquid. The human body needs every precious drop of it, it is essential. When someone is bleeding out, those 5.2 liters of blood seems a hell of a lot larger than it actually is.

At least, to Kiba, that was how it seemed, watching Sasuke practically bleed to death in the middle of the forest. It had been so much blood that he had actually forgotten that there was only approximately 8 pints of blood in their bodies. He did his best to patch him up, to heal him, but he was already slipping away, not from only blood loss, but from the extent of the injuries that he just couldn't heal.

He was surprised and ecstatic when Sasuke lasted those long hours he'd spent running around like a maniac, looking for some signs of human life to get help. When he stumbled across the orphanage, he thought he could've died with happiness, even more so when the woman who had tried to initially turn him away agreed to help Sasuke, allowing them inside.

Of course, his happiness sobered when she actually got down to helping Sasuke. Kiba hadn't been there to watch him get injured, so he didn't know the true extent of the wounds Sasuke had. It turned out that not only Sasuke had multiple deep stab wounds and scratches, but the snake venom in his system had a bigger toll than he'd figured it would have. The venom, in small amounts, could paralyze a bear. In the amount that Sasuke had been given it, it was enough to kill a small village within hours. Kiba could only figure that it was due to the fact that he had two powerful beings sealed within his body that he was still alive, but his strength was waning. The venom was, according to the woman, excruciatingly painful, which was why Sasuke was so delirious at the moment.

Before she even dealt with the open and bleeding wounds, she had Kiba go off and get her a medical kit she had in a closet. He had no idea why she would keep it there, nor did he know why it was a _Konoha _wartime issue medical kit, but he also didn't care. What he cared about was saving Sasuke's life; that was the only thing on his mind.

Well, that and… that all-too-familiar scent. He growled, following his nose and ripping open the cellar door he barely noticed, looking inside to find the man he could recognize all too well. "_YOU_!" he growled, pulling a kunai out of his pouch, preparing to throw it at the man who made no movement to run away or deflect, only to get his wrist grabbed from behind, pulling him away from the cellar.

"Don't touch him!" the woman screamed at him, pushing him out of the way, her eyes filled with fury. "I sent you for a medical kit, Inuzuka! A medical kit! I come in here and I find you're trying to _kill _him!"

"He's a murderer! He's a criminal!" Kiba screamed as Uchiha Obito pulled himself out of the cellar, his lips tightly pressed together. He pointed past her, at him. "He kidnapped my best friend and he fucking tortured her! Some of my friends almost died because of him! He's the reason why Sasuke has more than one person sealed in his body! He needs to fucking _die_!"

"No, he doesn't!" the woman screamed back, furious with him (which only irritated Kiba further). "He isn't that person!"

"Yes, he is! You didn't see him like I did!" Kiba replied. "He tried to kill me and every person I care about! He terrorized us! He turned weeks of our lives into living hell! We lost a valuable kunoichi because of that _psycho_! He needs to be fucking killed—!"

"K-Ki…" interrupted a hoarse whisper, immediately shutting up both fighting parties. He turned, eyes wide, and ran out of the room, running all the way back to the man who'd called him. He fell to his knees beside him, his hand at the side of his head. Sasuke looked weakly up at him, conscious for the first time in hours. "K-Ki… b-ba…" he whispered again, his body shaking like a leaf. He was so heartbreakingly weak at this moment that Kiba could've sobbed. "S-St…op… s-scr-scream…ing… h-head hur…h-hurts…"

"Sasuke… Uchiha Obito, he's here," whispered Kiba as the two adults came into the room, armed with medical supplies. Obito did his best to ignore Kiba as he pulled out items from one of the bags, opening a small bottle of what looked to be pills. He held them up towards Kiba, who glared down at them. "I don't know what those are; so I'm not giving them to him."

Obito sighed, but said, "They're high-strength painkillers. You can smell them if you want."

"You're a killer. I have no idea what you've done to them," Kiba growled, making Akamaru whine and come forwards, placing his large head next to Sasuke's. He didn't like the situation, either, but at this juncture, he was far more concerned about Sasuke than to think about Obito. Kiba wasn't wrong in his protective outlook on the situation, but Akamaru wanted to see Sasuke get better. He pushed his furry muzzle against Sasuke's cheek, trying to warm up the shivering, clammy Sasuke. He needed Sasuke to live as much as Kiba did. Kiba needed Sasuke to be happy, and Akamaru needed Kiba to be happy to be happy. It was a domino effect.

Sasuke turned his eyes to look at the furry mass beside him, barely able to focus. He could tell the ninken was worried, and disliked their arguing. It was for his sake that he opened his mouth and said in his hoarse, practically painful voice, "K-Ki…"

Both men looked down at the weak Uchiha heir below them as he raised his shaking hand to Obito's wrist, weakly managing to grab it after a few tries—he was seeing double, Kiba managed to figure out. Sasuke's bleary eyes found Kiba's face after what looked to be a few tries as well. He whispered, "P-Please… Ki…b-ba… i-it h-hurts…"

"But…" began Kiba with a dry swallow.

"Pl…ease…" interrupted Sasuke, his eyes pleading. "Tr…ust m-me… p-pain…k-killers… pl…ease… Ki…"

Kiba swallowed dryly, his heart hurting to see Sasuke in so much pain. He turned to Obito, who watched him with a curious look in his eyes. He didn't recognize him, Kiba realized. He didn't know him. Something had happened to him, because he didn't remember him. Something must've changed, because gone was that psychotic gleam in his eyes. All that was in his black eyes was concern, curiosity, confusion, and worry. As much as Kiba distrusted him, he could plainly see that this man meant no harm to him or Sasuke.

Taking a leap of faith, the Inuzuka snatched the pills out of his hand, tilting Sasuke's head up so he could gently push the pills past Sasuke's lips, which he managed to swallow without much difficulty.

"Do you trust me now?" Obito whispered.

He shook his head. "No." He looked down at the Uchiha who'd put his life on the line in order to protect him. "But I trust him." He flicked a look at the woman next to the older Uchiha. "You need to tell me everything, after you help him. Do you understand me?" he growled, instinctively tightening his grip on Sasuke in a possessive way. The Uchiha winced in pain, feeling the nails of the Inuzuka bite into his skin, alerting the male in question to exactly what he was doing.

Suddenly sheepish, he carefully removed his hands from Sasuke's shoulder and neck, bringing his hands to his side. Sasuke weakly grabbed at one of his free hands, grasping it as tightly as possible, hating the look of dejection on Kiba's face. The woman sighed, but nodded in return, quickly turning her attention to the injured man lying on the floor.

"K-Ki…"

"Sh, Sasuke. I know," he whispered, biting his lip and returning the grip gently.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Rin said now, capturing the attention of both Konoha shinobi and the ninken. "My name is Nohara Rin. I am an ally of Hatake Kakashi's. I am going to help you. I swear on my life that you are in safe hands."

_Damned well better be_, Kiba couldn't help but think.

* * *

There are certain things Kakashi had to learn to come to terms with when he had become an ANBU agent. One, though he might take a break, he was never fully away from ANBU. They were free to call him should they ever need him, even if he was on his deathbed. Two, he had to come to terms with the fact that he might very well not come home after a mission. They were all highly dangerous, and he'd made a great many enemies. And three, most importantly, there will always be a loved one that he had to leave behind; unable to console them and tell them he would definitely be back. That was possibly the most painful part about it all, to not be able to explain to someone why there was a possibility he wouldn't come back.

It hurt more that it was his own son that he couldn't explain it to. By law, he couldn't tell him what he did for a living, despite his blood relation to him, simply due to the fact that until he graduated from the Academy and became a Genin, he was considered to be a part of the civilian demographic. He wished he could tell him—Hayato deserved to know—but he just couldn't.

All he could do was pull on his cloak before Hayato could see the ANBU uniform, force him to promise to be good while he was away, and run off after Hinata, placing his mask over his face and ditching the cloak as soon as he was out of Hayato's line of sight. Hinata waited for him on the top of the wall, crouched down low, her long indigo locks flowing with the wind. He knew that she'd seen everything, and he also knew that she had close to no words to say to him in order to console him.

"I'm sorry you have to do this alone," she whispered, head hanging in shame, biting her lip. They'd just came from the Hokage's office about half an hour earlier, having temporarily left Hayato in the company of Shizune as they talked privately with Tsunade, explaining the situation and requesting permission to pursue them. However, due to the fact that it was Kabuto involved, and if Hinata was let out to go find them, it would basically be giving him her on a silver platter. Hinata was too valuable an asset, and with her ability to control and manipulate the Kyūbi without the use of the Sharingan; letting her outside would be giving him practically a gift.

She was too dangerous in the wrong hands. Despite the fact that Sasuke was her friend, and also the fact that she was a very capable kunoichi, the risk was just too great.

"They shouldn't have let Sasuke out in the first place," Kakashi said with a sigh, his elbows against his knees. "Sasuke is also valuable. He's got the fucking Sharingan, for Chrissakes'. Considering the kind of person Kabuto is, the council members are morons for using Sasuke as if he was some sort of bait." He growled under his breath. _That _little tidbit of information had not uplifted his mood in the least. The council really was corrupt, even with Danzō gone. "Sasuke is a strong shinobi, and he's got Kiba with him. Kiba wouldn't let a comrade die, despite how much he might have against Sasuke as a person. He's not cruel." And he was in love with Sasuke, but that was neither here nor there.

"I-I know," she mumbled, biting her lip. "But… Kabuto has attacked the people closest to Obito. What if he does the same thing to you, because you're close to Sasuke, or worse, because you're close with me? I know all these people he's attack personally, Kakashi, and that includes you. You don't have a partner on this mission. If he chooses to do the same thing to you, because of me, and he succeeds… Kakashi, you have a lot to lose…"

"And I have more to lose if you went with me," Kakashi said gently, making Hinata's eyes tear up. "Hinata, you are family to me. You and your clan have done so much for me. You guys fixed my son's eyes, you take care of him when I can't, you kept me sane for so long, you continuously support me even when I think I'm wrong… you are more than just my goddaughter, Hinata, you're like my younger sister. If I brought you along, and Kabuto got you, I'd feel like such a failure for not being able to protect you. Yes, my son is here. Yes, I'll have to leave my son alone. But… Hinata, if you're here, I know for fact that you'll both be fine."

"But…"

"No buts. You're not just my best teammate, Hinata. You're not just my friend. You're not just my student. You never have been a simple factor of my life to me. You, Sasuke, Naruto, Hayato, and Hanabi—you guys are my family." He sighed. "I'm going to go get Sasuke, and I will come back alive. I will come home with Sasuke and Kiba in tow, Hinata, I promise you."

Hinata finally broke down, tears dripping down her face, making Kakashi's own heart ache in accordance to her pain. "But… but Kabuto's… he's targeting the ones closest to us! He's trying to break us down! If you go, and he gets you, he'll be breaking me, Sasuke, and Naruto all in one shot! We can't lose you, Kakashi, we can't lose you! We already lost Sakura to him… we can't lose you…" She hugged herself, her sobs wracking her body. "We can't lose you… we can't lose someone else… it'll break us… I need to be there, to help you…"

"Hinata. If you want to help me, you stay here, with your guards," he whispered reassuringly, putting a hand on the young woman's arms. "You stay here, somewhere safe. You stay here, and wait for me. I will come home, I promise you. I promise you I'll be home." He knew that he shouldn't make promises. There was always a chance he couldn't keep them. But he couldn't help it. He needed to.

* * *

Hanabi had been taught, early on in her life, that nightmares are, in no way, things that came true. She needn't worry about them, nor think twice about them. She was taught that they were simply just a part of the process of growing up; information she had accepted easily. However, that did not meant to say that when she had one, she didn't wake up feeling scared—she most definitely did, and there were few things once could do to get rid of the fear.

Slipping into your parent's study was one of them. Thankfully, Hiashi was still awake, working at some piece of paperwork. When she opened the door, he'd looked up, confused to find his teenaged daughter in the doorway. He placed down his pen, giving Hanabi his full attention. She coughed dryly before saying, "I… I'm scared. Can I… I dunno; stay here for a little while?"

She felt childish just saying it. The last time she'd done this—her equivalent of sleeping in the bed with her father—she'd been seven. Now she was a little bit more than twice that age, and she still had nightmares scary enough for her to search for a little bit of her father's reassurance, even if it was just laying down on the small couch in his study, listening to him mutter the words he was writing (something he'd only started doing when she turned twelve, due to the fact that he was actually forgetting some of the words, he'd been doing this job for so long). Somehow, she just knew inherently that something so little would make such a huge difference.

She expected a no to leave her father's lips.

"Sure. Do you need a blanket or anything?" he asked instead, a look of concern on his face. Hanabi blinked, having not expected such a positive response.

"It'd be nice," she squeaked out, making him chuckle as she scurried over to the couch, laying down on it. Either it was smaller than she remembered or she was much taller now, but she didn't fit quite so well anymore. She brought her knees into her chest, curling up on her side as Hiashi placed a thick blanket over her skinny body. "Why do you have a blanket in here?"

"Believe it or not, your father is not a machine. I do feel things, such as temperature," responded Hiashi sarcastically, smiling at his youngest daughter. "Besides, I had to. You and Hinata used to come in here so often, and then you'd shiver because neither of you would think to bring a blanket in here, so you'd fall asleep freezing cold. I felt guilty about it, so I figured I might as well be prepared." Hanabi blinked, surprised. It did make sense, she knew, but she just figured her father had put her back to bed as soon as she'd fallen asleep.

"How long would I be asleep in here?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Until I finished what was doing and could put you to bed. So, a couple of hours, sometimes until the crack of dawn."

"And you didn't mind?"

"No. Why would I mind? You two are my children, my precious daughters. No matter what kind of stupid shit you two manage to get yourselves into, you two will be my most treasured achievements." Hiashi sighed and sat down on the edge of the couch. "I'm no good at talking with either of you, but I have the distinct feeling that you want to. Are you… bothered by what happened earlier this evening?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"Was it those shinobi? Because I must say, you did an amazing job at taking them out, Hanabi."

"Thanks, Otōsan, but no. No, it's not because of them."

"If it was your alcoholic intake, I hope that we don't have to have a conversation about it. You seemed to be—still seem to be—in control, so I'm not exactly worried about you developing astute alcoholism." _And the father-of-the-year award goes to… Hyūga Hiashi!_ Hanabi thought sarcastically. "Our clan has been well known for being able to handle large sums of alcohol, so I'm positive you'll be fine. If you're anything like your sister in your intake, then I think you'll be okay. I'm not comfortable with it, but I know you well enough to know you'll be alright."

"No, I'm okay with the alcohol, but it's something else…" She swallowed. "I made out with a boy tonight."

Hiashi stared at her for a moment, and then said, "Who is he, what is his name, and where does he live so I can murder him in his sleep?"

"God, Otōsan," she said, blushing bright crimson, "You have no problems with my drinking or kicking ass, but I _kiss _someone and you have a problem? Do you need therapy?"

"Hanabi, I give you and Hinata certain leniencies," he said seriously, "You two are quite independent, so I don't feel the need to be an intrusive, overprotective parental figure. You both fear my reactions, so it tends to stop you from doing _incredibly_ stupid things. I also have a high level of comfort when it comes to you two, because you know what you're doing for the most part. But the idea of you being with anyone romantically _makes_ me be that overprotective parental figure. Actually, it makes me want to bludgeon whoever is thinking about you like that, to be completely honest, but that is neither here nor there. Any halfway decent father feels that way about their daughters getting romantically involved with people."

She had to admit… when he explained his reasons like that, it made honest sense. It made his earlier commentary about alcoholism actually make sense now, and he didn't seem like half of the crappy father it made him seem like. Of course, his words only made him seem like a crappy father because he wasn't a man who could easily communicate a teenaged girl (though, no man was). He was an amazing father, but…

"You didn't threaten Kankurō!"

He chuckled. "Actually, I have, multiple times, both in front of your sister and straight to his face. I respect him as a shinobi and as your sister's love, but there's no way in hell I will ever truly _like _him. I don't have it in me to be so generous." He sighed, and she swallowed dryly. She had no idea that her father really felt that way. "So, what is the problem you have?"

"Well… he kissed me, like I said… and then after the fight, he didn't come to check up on me."

"Perhaps he was busy," Hiashi suggested with a sigh, though, now knowing her father's full feelings on the idea of his daughter dating, she could tell he was a little bit relieved about the fact.

"Perhaps, but it still hurts the same. I… I've never felt this way about anyone else. Ever. It was… amazing, and I really want it to happen again," she ended in a rush, sitting up and wrapping the blanket around herself—her father was right; it did get cold in this room. Hiashi stared at her, a blank expression in his pale gray, pupil-less eyes. She knew she was making him uncomfortable, but it was almost like verbal vomit. It wouldn't stop.

Hiashi sighed. "As long as he doesn't come to me when you're sixteen asking for your hand in marriage," he muttered, shaking his head. She resisted the urge to snicker—Kankurō has some major balls doing that, especially without Hinata's knowledge. "By the way, Hanabi…" He swallowed. "As long as this male isn't Sarutobi Konohamaru or his friend, the sickly one, I will tolerate whoever it is you love that's irritated you enough that you couldn't go to sleep."

Technically speaking, she could go to sleep, but her nightmare had woken her up. Also, while being candid, the nightmare wasn't truly a nightmare; just a dream. But it was her worse fear, and the source of her anxiety: what if Obito _didn't _want her? What if he had just wanted someone easy? What if he left her one day and never came back? That was the scariest part about her dream, she figured, because she knew that, with his background, it was a distinct possibility, even though she definitely did not want it to be.

* * *

_**So that's all for this week. You guys are starting to catch up with my pace now :) **_


	16. Chapter 15: Apprehension

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!_**

* * *

_APPREHENSION_

_/__ˌ__apri__ˈ__henSH__ə__n/_

_anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen; understanding, grasp. _

* * *

Hayato was oddly silent, and it was noticeable by anyone who knew him. Hayato was a bright, curious, happy child who was unafraid to ask questions or provide answers. He was at the top of his class at the Academy, and the newest prospective to graduate early, next year at the least. He was also well liked by all his peers for his easy-going approach to any situation, and his willingness to help his fellows with any issue. He was always smiling brightly, his dark grey eyes twinkling with life.

Today was not the case. He sat in his seat, his hands tucked under his thighs, staring out the window rather than paying attention in class. He was always paying attention—that was, after all, how he'd reached the top of his class—yet, today, he was unfocused, his grey eyes dead. His lips were formed into a tight-lipped frown, and he didn't open his mouth to speak once, whether he knew the answer or not, or even to ask a question or to tell a joke. The other students actually found it disturbing that the boy wasn't speaking at all, as did his instructor, meaning, Neji.

"Hayato, if one is up twenty five meters in a tree with a 90-degree perpendicular angle with the ground, what is the angle needed to hit a target fifty feet away from the base of the tree?" Neji asked the boy straight on, his arms crossed over his chest as he fixed his gaze to him. The students turned around to look at their top classmate, watching him finally turn his gaze away from the window and take a glance at the diagram pictured on the board.

After a few moments of silence, he looked at Neji and shrugged carelessly, turning his attention back outside. "A shrug is not an answer," sighed Neji, "And I need one."

"What you _need_ is to take that stick out of your ass," Hayato muttered under his breath, surprising every kid in the room. Neji blinked, surprised that he even thought to say it.

"Want to repeat that?" he asked, walking over to the chalkboard and picking up a piece of chalk, holding it tightly in his grip.

Hayato flicked his angry eyes back at him, sighed, and stood up, placing his hands on the surface of the desk. "What I said," he enunciated with a clear voice, making sure it would carry across the room, "Is that what you _need_ is to reach behind yourself and take that _giant stick_ out of your _ass_, _Neji-sensei_."

Neji chucked the piece of chalk at him, hitting him dead on the middle of the forehead. Hayato winced, grabbing his forehead, glaring at him.

"Come down here," Neji said, placing a hand on his hip, the other making the 'come-hither' gesture. "Bring your book." Hayato shrugged, picking up his stuff and leaving his desk, ignoring the fact that every eye in the room was on him. "Since you're so interested in looking outside, go sit in that tree right there, and take those notes. I'll be looking at you, so don't bother to try and run away. You do not want me to come after you," Neji said, pointing to the window by his desk. "You can come back inside when I dismiss the class, but don't leave the room, because I need to see you for your lunch hour. Am I clear?"

Hayato looked away, tightening his fist around his pen. Neji leaned in, his face inches away from Hayato's smaller one, activating his Byakugan and shocking the class. "I said, _am I clear_, **_Hatake-san_**?"

"Crystal," he replied curtly with a sigh, doing exactly as he was told. He wasn't the first child Neji had given a punishment to—all of his punishments were quite abnormal—but none of the students were actually expecting him to punish Hayato, even if he was acting like an asshole.

Neji continued on with the lesson about cosine, sine, and tangents, which they quickly all became masters in for fear of getting a punishment like Hayato's. They were more than happy to leave the class when Neji dismissed them, worried that they would get Hayato's blood on them if they stayed. Neji flicked a glance outside the window, his Byakugan still active. Hayato sat there, scrawling in his notebook. Neji sighed, pulling a shuriken out of his thigh holster and throwing it into the trunk next to Hayato's head, making him aware quickly that the class had been dismissed. Rolling his eyes, he leaped out of the tree, landing nimbly on the window frame.

"What the hell was that?" Neji asked automatically as Hayato slipped inside, leaning against his desk at the front of the room.

"What was what?" Hayato asked with a sigh.

"Don't play dumb, Hayato. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're not a rude kid, so what was that behavior?" Neji specified; his brow furrowing. He wasn't truly mad—mainly concerned, actually. Sure, initially, he was enflamed, but he wasn't really that mad anymore, once he'd had enough time to cool down.

Hayato frowned and looked down at his sandals. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to be rude. Can this just be dropped?"

He shook his head, his eyes hard and unyielding. "No. It can't be dropped, I'm confused and worried about you and I want to figure out what's wrong. Where did that come from, Hayato? "Why are you angry?"

"I'm not angry," he blatantly lied.

"Yes, you are." Neji's frown deepened. "Is this about your father?" Hayato flinched and bit his lip. "Why are you mad about your father?"

"He didn't tell me." Neji leaned forwards, confused by the angry whisper. "He went somewhere for work, but he didn't tell me where, or why, or if he'd be back. He just left me with your family and he didn't give me any reason for why he was going somewhere. I don't know if he's coming back, or what he's doing, or why he's doing it, and it makes me angry to know that he doesn't trust me enough to tell me."

Neji swallowed dryly. _Ah. Kakashi must've left on an ANBU mission last night. That explains why he was dropped off at the compound last night, with Hiashi-sama and Hinata-sama. _"Your father can't always tell you everything, Hayato," he said in a soft voice, "Some things, he just can't share."

"I'm his son. He can tell me anything," he insisted.

"No. Not anything, Hayato," he said, shaking his head. Hayato looked up at him, brow furrowed in confusion. "Your father is privy to a lot of village secrets. To go around telling people about them, especially when they're both a child and a part of the civilian demographic, will get your father into a lot of trouble. There are certain things about your father that I'm not allowed to give out, and the same goes about me."

Hayato looked like he was about to cry. "You know what my dad's doing, Neji-sensei?"

"No. Not the specifics. I can take a shot in the dark and be close, but not completely correct," Neji said, trying to confuse the boy as much as possible in order to dissuade him from trying to ask more questions about it. He sighed, walking over to the boy and crouching down in front of him. "Kakashi-sensei… your father is a good man, and he's an even better shinobi. More than likely, your father will be just fine. He'll come home and the first thing he'll do is grab onto you and refuse to let go. He spoils you that way."

"He doesn't spoil me," muttered Hayato, blushing.

Neji smirked. "Yes, he does, according to all of his friends. He wants you to have a different childhood than what he had, so he tries to give you more than what he had. In the end, everything Kakashi-sensei does is for your wellbeing. You're always on his mind, and trust me; he really wishes he could tell you."

"But he can't?" whispered Hayato, his tone saddened.

"But he can't," Neji agreed with a nod, "Just trust in your father. He'll come home. All you have to do is keep doing what you're doing, work as hard as you have been, make Genin by next year, and he can tell you why he's left." Hayato gave him a shaky smile, and Neji smirked in response before he asked in a curious tone, "By the way, do you know the answer to the question?"

Hayato giggled, blushed, and looked away, biting his bottom lip. "It's a sixty-three-point-four-three-four-nine-four acute angle," he said rubbing his nose. "You have to use the tangency formula to find it. My dad taught it to me weeks ago, after you began the basics of equations, distancing, and mathematics in the senjutsu section."

Neji's smirk changed into a smile, and he rubbed the top of his silver-gray head. "You really are the best and brightest in this class. Keep at this pace and you'll be in Daikoku-sensei's class within a month." For the first time that day, Hayato smiled brightly, but then his smile slipped and he looked away.

"Ah… sensei?"

"Hmm?"

"You're the only Academy teacher in fifty years to be above the rank of Chūnin. My father says you're a war hero, like Sasuke-niisan and Hinata-neechan. In my opinion, I think that means you can do a lot of things with your life. So, if you can do anything you want, why would you have chosen to become an Academy sensei, surrounded by Chūnin-level shinobi? Why would you choose to work in a classroom rather than the field?" he asked, rubbing reddened his cheek with his pointer finger.

Neji blinked, and then smiled softly. He raised his hands to his hitai-ate, pulling it off his forehead to reveal his curse mark. Hayato stared at it, eyes wide. "I was given this when I was four years old. This mark means that I was a caged bird of the Branch House in my clan. I was told it meant that the choices of the Main House went far beyond my own choices. That what I wanted to do, in the end, would never matter if the Main House didn't agree with me. It designated that the day I died would be the day I became free, and that my destiny was sealed into one irrevocable timeline."

"That's… horrible…" whispered Hayato.

"Yes, it is. And for a long time, I had a second curse of my house… the curse of hatred. I hated the Main House for things that they had been taught to do, not necessarily that they wanted to do. I hated that my life was theirs to play with. For the longest time, I thought that the cage that surrounded me was built by them. It wasn't. I made my own cage, and I settled myself in it and blamed other people. My destiny was completely my own to command. The mark is just a way to attempt control over something so far out of its reach. Naruto taught me this."

"Naruto-niisan?" Hayato asked, brows rising.

"Yes. Naruto taught me that one is not resigned to a set destiny. One creates their own with the choices they make. Once I figured this out, I no longer saw myself as being caged, without a choice. I was free to make my decisions for myself. And the other thing I learned is… there are people out there who feel trapped, caged, abused, and misused… like I did. I can sympathize with these people, and I want to help them figure out, like I did, that not one person is trapped by anything. I figured the best way to do that is to teach, so, I gave up my old job and started to teach young children entering the Academy to begin their lives as shinobi, and… I've never looked back." Neji smiled once more and pulled back on his headband, standing up. Hayato touched the skin under his right eye, thinking back to the days when he was blind.

"Neji-sensei?" he said, looking up.

He turned around at the mention of his name. "Yes?"

"I'm gonna be an Academy teacher when I grow up. I'm gonna teach the future that they're not trapped either, and that they can become anything." He grinned. "Hokages will come out of my classes."

Neji blinked, and then he smiled, looking away. "It sounds like a plan, Hayato. I'll hold you to that, if you promise to excel and get to Genin by next year. I want to celebrate your ninth birthday with your hitai-ate on your forehead." Hayato's grin widened and he nodded in response. Neji chuckled, shaking his head. "Go. You still have another forty-five minutes to your lunch hour. If you're lucky, then your friends waited up for you."

Hayato bowed deeply. "Thank you, Neji-sensei! I apologize for my behavior earlier, and I hope you'll forgive me!" He stood upright, still smiling, and ran up the steps, throwing his book back onto his desk and back down the steps, running out the open door. Neji sighed, running his fingers through his hair. _If I hadn't forgiven you, would we have ended that conversation so pleasantly? _Neji wondered to himself, sitting down at his desk and propping his feet up on the table, deciding it wouldn't hurt to get a little bit of sleep…

"Neji, my most youthful friend and rival! You're on break! YOSH!"

**_Mother_****fuck**_**er**__. Can't I get a break? _Neji thought with a tired sigh.

* * *

To Kiba, it was a little bit ironic how one could get multiple life-threatening injuries in a matter of minutes, but then the time needed to heal these injuries took a matter of hours. Of course, it was not a funny irony, in the least bit, but he still recognized that it was.

Sasuke had gone through hell, but he managed to make it out practically on top—or at least, somewhere close to it. The woman (whose name he learned to be Rin) had dealt with the multiple counts of snake venom injected into his system by giving him a powerful antitoxin that had Kiba's senses reeling with the strength of its smell, and using her medical ninjutsu to pull out the blackened substance that the antitoxin had actually forced out of Sasuke's pores, disgustingly enough. She also slowly, over the course of the night, healed the major wounds that Kiba just couldn't figure out how to deal with by multiple rounds of medical ninjutsu and stitching the wounds, over and over, for hours.

Not once, that Kiba noticed, did Sasuke let go of his hand. Sasuke had gone unconscious several times during the procedure, and he had also woken up several times screaming in pain, but he never let go of his hand. Even now, in a more peaceful sleep, with the sunlight pouring its warm rays onto his face, Sasuke refused to let go of his hand.

Kiba kept sitting there, his eyes red from the exhaustion and bags under his eyes. He didn't go to sleep once. He didn't want to wake up and realize it'd all been a dream; that Sasuke had actually died and he hadn't been able to do a damned thing to stop it from happening. Even with Akamaru there, laying on top of Sasuke's stomach and keeping him warm, he was worried to find out it'd all been just a dream.

"Kiba-san."

He looked up tiredly from Sasuke's pale hand, blinking the bleariness out of his eyes as Rin knelt down beside him, a cup of coffee and a plate of toast in her hands. "I figured you might be hungry, so I brought you some late breakfast. I brought more than enough for you to give some to Sasuke, should he wake up hungry and ready to eat." Kiba nodded, taking the coffee from her first, and then the plate of toast. She smiled softly. "He still won't let you go?"

"I don't know why, but his grip is like fucking iron," he said, teasing the sleeping male in front of him. "He refuses to let me go, even for a second." Truth be told, Kiba didn't want to be let go of, nor did he want to let go of Sasuke either, but that was a different story altogether.

"How long?"

Kiba blinked, looking up at the woman. "How long what?"

"How long have you two been a couple?" Rin asked.

Kiba turned bright red, mortified. "Ah… we're not… we're not a couple. He's my coworker. My comrade. My teammate…"

"Who you made out with, if the embarrassment in your voice is any indication," Rin said, crossing her arms over her chest smugly as Kiba's mortification grew by the second, his tired eyes widening as he looked back down at Sasuke's hand. Well, he figured that holding Sasuke's hand didn't exactly help his refusal, but then again, he wasn't really refusing all that hard—he did, actually, want to be in a relationship with Sasuke. And if the night before was any sort of indication, it was definitely that he wanted Sasuke around for more than just a little while. "Have you told him your feelings?" Rin asked gently.

Kiba looked at her and coughed a chuckle. "No."

"Why not? You never know when someone will be forced to leave your side. Trust me, better now than later," Rin said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Kiba sighed, picking up the mug of coffee. "I don't know how. We… I… we only kissed last night. Before things went to shit. We only became friends this past week. Before that, I was sleeping around with a lot of different people, and I was pretending for the longest time that I hated him. Up until the kiss, I was sure he was just being polite to me this past week, because I've said some… _really_ fucked-up shit to him in the past, shit that hurt me to even think, let alone say aloud."

Rin stared at him. "So why did you say them?"

"He's… I'm…" He swallowed a gulp of coffee. "I'm an Inuzuka. My clan values loyalty. I've been taught to be loyal to the ones you love, and…"

"There was a time Sasuke wasn't, so you're worried about that happening again, because this time it would hurt you," Rin finished, a frown on her face. "You wanted to detach yourself from it all, so you lashed out at him to make sure that if and when it happened, hurt would be the last thing on your mind. You were trying to hypnotize yourself into hating him."

He sighed shakily. "Yeah, that's about right."

She smiled gently. "Kiba-san, I'm not saying you're wrong in with your fears, but if he feels half the same way for you as you seem to feel for him, then I think you should just… try." She looked up at the clock and sighed. "I have to go over to the main part of the estate to start the children's days. Obito will be here. Can I trust you not to kill him?"

"Usually, I would say no. But… Sasuke's got my knife-yielding hand in a vice grip, so this time I would have to say yes," Kiba said seriously, making Rin give a shaky chuckle. She stood up, pulling a sweatshirt onto her body. "Will you be back to check up on him?" Kiba asked, brow furrowing.

"I will, as soon as possible, which probably will mean I'll be gone at least for two hours, during which time I expect you to get a little bit of shut-eye. You look like you're going to drop dead, and not sleeping after something like what you went through last night is not a good thing," Rin said in a lightly scolding voice as Obito came down the stairs, pulling her into his bigger arms.

Kiba could plainly see that the two of them were made for each other; it was no big secret. This woman was Obito's world. It truly did signify that he wasn't the Obito he'd come to know anymore, what with the car he was giving this woman, and the gentleness in his eyes. Kiba didn't know what had happened, or how it happened, but the fact remained that it did, and that because of it, Uchiha Obito wasn't the cruel bastard he remembered him to be. It was like he really had been executed. This man just happened to share his looks and his name, and that was really about it when it came to the similarities between the two of them.

"A-Are you going to eat…?"

Kiba flinched, looking down with a softer expression in his eyes.

"Sasuke… you're awake."

* * *

Nara Obito felt so indescribably guilty and mad with himself. The entire night managed to turn into one massive cluster-fuck simply due to his presence, it seemed, and he also managed to destroy his best friend's innocence by helping him kill someone the night before. Beyond that, he'd made out with Hanabi out of a partially drunken whim, and it'd been as amazing as he'd expected it to be… and then he became so focused on fighting and helping Shizuka that he never checked back with her to make sure she was alright. What kind of lousy boyfriend was he that—

Whoa. Did he just think of himself as her boyfriend? He blushed at that. What if she didn't want that? Well, it sure didn't seem like that, the way she had been touching him last night, but she was rather drunk—they all were rather drunk last night. What if she had simply been teasing? Joking? What if all she had wanted was to make out with him? Was he expected to go straight back to being her best friend, or would they become something more? Was he ready for that, even? Well, he knew the answer to that—most definitely yes—but he didn't know what to make of her posssible answer. Hanabi was always a complicated topic to him, one he was sure he confused often and easily.

Just thinking about her was frustrating him, because she was the only unquantifiable thing he knew of in the entire world. She could single-handedly throw him through a loop without even trying. She made everything that much harder. All he wanted to do was punch something when he thought through whether or not Hanabi wanted him.

Having a tail didn't help matters much.

Whoever thought they could tail him for the entire week without him noticing was sadly mistaken. Not only were they shit at hiding their chakra, but they really were annoying the crap out of him. They were tailing him like a gazelle tried to tail a lion. They were bound to piss him off, and just thinking about _her _and the major damper he'd put on the party last night were reason enough for him to be pissed.

_Fuck it, _he decided, growing too irritated to allow this to continue on, pulling out shuriken from his thigh holster and throwing it into the tree, two of them hitting the trunk of the tree, but two of them hitting their intended mark, who returned fire with kunai. Obito easily avoided them, even going as so far as to bring chakra to his foot in order to attract the metal to him, keeping it attached with nothing more than control. Having stopped its momentum, he allowed it to drop to the ground, his arms crossing over his chest in contempt.

"If you're going to tail me, you might as well do a good job at it," he said with a tired sigh, running his hand through his black hair, closing his eyes for a moment. "You need to work on chakra concealment, because your current status truly and totally sucks, and, quite frankly, it's an insult to my intelligence that you honestly believe I won't notice a constant and distinct chakra shadowing my every move." He was met with silence, and his anger spiked more. "I know you're still up there, so how about we just stop with the pretenses and you come down."

There was a rustling in the trees, and a figure leaped out, landing only a meter away from him. He was surprised he hadn't noticed the man's physical characteristics in the past week—his _blue_ hair was incredibly distinctive for an ANBU agent. His Eagle's mask looked him in the face, his elbow sitting on his opposite bent knee. "I've never seen you before, except for last night. You were the cocky young one," he said.

"And now you have seen me again," Eagle replied with a shrug. "Technically speaking, you weren't supposed to see me at all. I'm a shadow."

"No, you're not. If you were, than you are without a doubt the worst shadow I've ever seen in my life," said Obito, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are you tailing me? Orders from Tsunade to keep me safe or some shit like that?" The ANBU didn't verbally respond, but he nodded. "Of course. I'm a weapon, and you keep your weapons safe. Question; why didn't you help me last night if you're supposedly my protection detail?"

"We were given special orders about the shinobi we're guarding. 'Unless they really need help, avoid interference at all costs unless you wish to lose a limb'. Judging by the way you maliciously attacked last night, I understand the rule. I'm quite fond of my body the way it is, thanks."

"Who else is being guarded by ANBU operatives?" asked Obito, raising an eyebrow.

"Nara Shikamaru and the two others I mentioned."

Obito shrugged—the rule did make sense, in that case. They did have certain… _things_…in them that needed watching. "Why are you telling me this? Is this not classified?"

"It is, but you're involved and influenced by this, so I figure it wouldn't hurt to let you in on it," Eagle replied with another shrug, getting to his feet. "As much fun as this is, I need to go back into hiding. An ANBU agent out in the daytime is dangerous. People can see me." He ran a hand through his dark blue hair. "For your information, I was only hiding my chakra from the civilians. I wanted you to know I was here, so I allowed you to sense my chakra. But now that you know, and you've confronted me about it, just whistle to me twice if you need to speak with me from now on. Henceforth, I'll really be your shadow." He bent at the waist, giving him a small bow. "By the way, I think you really pissed off Hanabi-sama by not checking up on her last night. I'm just letting you know."

With that, Eagle backed away, slamming his hands together and disappearing in a puff of smoke, staying true to his word of completely concealing his chakra. Obito raised an eyebrow, vaguely stunned. He hadn't had much contact with ANBU agents, except for Hinata and Shikamaru, and neither of them had shown them the full extent of their training to him. It was a little bit surprising to see a fully training ANBU agent in action.

Surprising, but… interesting. Definitely interesting.

He sighed and rubbed the top of his head. "I guess I better go find Hanabi, then," he said to himself, deciding to take the advice of Eagle-masked ANBU agent he had tailing him. After all, it couldn't hurt, right?

* * *

Coaxing a stubborn Uchiha Sasuke to go back to sleep was possibly the hardest task Inuzuka Kiba had ever faced, even more difficult than potty training Akamaru (which had been extremely difficult, considering he'd had to do it alone because his mother insisted that the only way for them to have a deep understanding would be if Akamaru pissed and shat on him a couple of times; though he knew it was just so she could have something to chuckle to herself about).

Sasuke disliked being told what to do by anyone, even if he did respect them. Kiba begged and pleaded with him, offering him a million and one things just in exchange that he slept. Sasuke still looked visibly ill, and Kiba could tell by the heat his hand was giving off that he still had a slight illness; and beyond that, Sasuke looked dead tired, like he was going to just pass out regardless of what he wanted.

Still, he refused.

"Sasuke," said Kiba with a sigh as the Uchiha pretended to ignore him, instead focusing on scratching the top of Akamaru's head. Sasuke's black bangs clung to his forehead due to the sheer amount of sweat, and his skin was abnormally pale, even for him—it was making him and Sai look that much similar, which was creeping Kiba out because he disliked Sai immensely. The look in Sasuke's tired eyes was tired and stubborn, but the way he scratched Akamaru's head was gentle and caring. If Kiba wasn't trying so hard to convince the stubborn Uchiha heir to go back to sleep, he would've found it amazing.

"No," he responded, his voice hard, "I just woke up. I'm not going back to sleep if I can avoid it." Kiba swallowed and looked down—their hands were still joined together. Even awake, Sasuke hadn't allowed him to let go for a second. Not that Kiba minded, but it was ridiculous, being temporarily left-handed. Sasuke finally flicked a glance up at him. "You go to sleep, Kiba. You've got bags under your eyes."

"So do you," Kiba said, running a hand through his messy brown locks. "You look worse than I do."

Sasuke's lips twitched. "What? I don't turn you on like this? Not sexy enough for you right now?" he teased, and Kiba bit back a groan. No, his physical appearance just made Kiba worry, but his words just made him want to tackle him and bite onto that slender, pale, long neck, to plunge into his warm body and make that smug face contort into a face of pleasure, one just for him… shit, he was going to get hard. He could feel the beginnings of arousal. _Stop it, Kiba! Stay strong! _

"You would be a hell of a lot sexier to me if you got some sleep," he lied [horribly], looking away, biting his bottom lip. Sasuke shrugged, nonplussed. Thank God that the Uchiha wasn't as vain as he previously believed. Any of his exes and he would've been hit for his words. "I'm just asking you get… fifteen minutes of shut-eye."

"Nope," Sasuke replied, giving a tired smirk as he took a piece of toast off of the plate, chewing carefully on the cold buttered slice of bread. They'd been sitting there for a while—Kiba took a few bites, but he'd quickly lost interest in eating anything. It wasn't exactly as tasty as it might've once been, but he was hungry and so he just didn't give a shit. "I don't want to get any more sleep than I already have. I've gotten more than enough."

"Apparently not, if you're still tired," Kiba sighed, picking up the cup of coffee and taking a sip. It was doing nothing for his exhaustion, but he was thirsty and Sasuke only took a drink of it if he took one first. If it was the only way to get the stubborn ass to wash down that dry cold toast with something, then so be it. He held it to Sasuke's lips, forcing him to take a quick sip. He could tell Sasuke disliked the taste, but Sasuke seemed to just suck it up as he continued to drink. "Ten minutes of shut-eye."

"Still, no," Sasuke said, pulling his lips away from the coffee, licking his lips and making a face. "No, I'm not going to sleep."

Obito walked by the room. "Rin would want you to get sleep," he said in passing, continuing on to the kitchen to make himself a cup of something tastier than Rin's weird decaffeinated coffee.

Kiba nodded. "See? He agrees with me."

"Still, no," Sasuke repeated, returning to scratching the top of Akamaru's large head.

Kiba sighed. "Why not?"

Sasuke blinked. "I have to have a reason?"

"You're Uchiha Sasuke. You have a reason and excuse for everything you do. Why should refusing to go back to sleep when you're obviously unwell be any different?" Kiba half-teased, looking down at Sasuke's hand. "I bet you just want to drive me crazy; that's why you're not going back to sleep. You just wanna irritate me for coming back for you when you had told me you were coming for me?"

Sasuke was confused. "Why would I be pissed at that? You saved my life, Kiba," he said, brow furrowing. "I'm stubborn, not suicidal. I didn't wanna die, and you saved me." Kiba shook his head furiously. "No, you did. If you didn't come back for me, if you didn't heal as much as you could, I'd be dead. Kabuto would've ended up having killed me, for whatever deranged reason he had for showing he could."

Kiba blinked. "You say it like he _wasn't_ intending to kill you."

Sasuke looked at him. "Because he wasn't," he replied honestly, shaking his head. "If he had _really_ wanted to kill me, Kabuto would've succeeded already. I would've died long before you got to me. That was… an _exhibition_." Sasuke looked away, his eyes hardening. "That's why I can't go back to sleep."

"Because he'll come after you in your sleep?" Kiba asked, confused.

"No, nothing like that. He's already proven his point; he doesn't need to add to it at all. I don't want to sleep because I'm afraid that for his _next_ exhibition… he'll come after _you_ in my sleep and rip you away from me and I won't be able to stop him." Sasuke managed to tighten his grip on Kiba's hand. Kiba's face turned red; embarrassed, worried, surprised and delighted by the protective nature Sasuke had near him. "Plus, I'm afraid if I go to sleep, I'll wake up and find that last night was a dream."

"You _want_ Kabuto's attacking you to be reality?" Kiba asked in a confused tone, still red in the face.

Sasuke scowled, turning to him and glaring, which starkly contrasted with the blush he had growing on his own cheeks. "No, dumbass, not that. I meant… _I-meant-the-kiss_." He stumbled over the last few words, making them near incomprehensible, and he licked his lips nervously. "I don't want to find out that wasn't real."

_Well, damn. He has the same reason for not going to sleep as I do, _Kiba thought, blinking. "You… you liked it? You… you wanted to kiss me?"

"Would I have done it if I didn't?" Sasuke sputtered, his eyes widening. "I don't go around kissing random guys, Kiba. I'm not like that."

"You kissed Naruto."

"Yeah, by _accident_. One of our stupid-ass classmates pushed him into me."

He resisted the urge to smirk. "I seem to remember tongue."

"Sh-Shut up," muttered Sasuke, looking murderous, flustered and embarrassed at the same time. "You're such an asshole."

"You say that, but… you wanted me to kiss you," Kiba responded, still exploding with happiness. "H-How long have you wanted me to kiss you?"

Sasuke sighed. "Roughly… four, five years. Ever since I tried to destroy Konoha. Ever since Suigetsu tried to kill you…"

"You _did_ save me." Sasuke's head snapped up, eyes wider than Kiba had ever seen them. "That day, when you invaded Konoha. I have these fragments that you're screaming at me to stay alive. I figured I was just making shit up. I thought I was dreaming something up. But, you… you really did save my life, didn't you?" He bit his lip. "I thought… I thought Naruto and Hinata saved me. Akamaru told me that they did, and they never said anything about it. Did they know it was…?"

"Yeah. Yeah, all three of them know. I told them to lie." Sasuke gave a half-smile as Kiba gawked at him. "I could tell you hated me, so I decided it would be better to tell you that someone you cared about saved you rather than someone like me. I had to make Akamaru swear not to tell you, but since I can't communicate with him like you can, I had no idea he'd really kept to that until right now. He hated me, too, so I was sure he'd spill to you the truth about it." He looked down at the dog, whose giant head lay in his lap. "We're two fucked-up people, aren't we?"

"Yeah. That's putting it mildly. But" —he grabbed Sasuke by his chin, turning his face towards him and licking his own lips—"I think I'm okay with that." He stroked Sasuke's hand with his thumb. "Here's a deal. I'll go to sleep, and you'll go to sleep… and I'll kiss you, and you'll kiss me, right when we wake up." Sasuke blinked, surprised at Kiba's forwardness. "I'll even give you a preview." Kiba gently smiled at him, and then touched his lips to Sasuke's for the barest second, making the Uchiha's eyes get wider at the touch, his stomach flopping around in his body. Kiba pulled back, a smile on his face as he said, "Do we have a deal?"

All Sasuke could do was nod as he laid back down, watching Kiba do the exact same thing, his dark eyes on him. Sasuke swallowed dryly, his stomach still turning just because of the look the Inuzuka was currently giving to him. "K-Kiba…?"

Kiba's smile widened. "Call me Ki."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Ki?"

He returned his question with a slight shrug. "It's what you were calling me last night. It grew on me. Call me Ki."

Sasuke smirked. "Ki… what are we to each other? Last week, we were fighting. So what are we now? Are we just friends, friends with benefits, or are we—"

Kiba cut him off with a chuckle. "And this is the renowned overly confident, overly secure, and overly cocky Uchiha Sasuke asking me all these insecure questions. I thought it was obvious, quite frankly. I'll be yours, if you'll be mine. Sound like a fair deal to you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke blinked, and then he gave a cocky chuckle, allowing his eyes to slide shut. "You and all your fucking deals," he muttered before he slipped into sleep, the Inuzuka not too far after him, their hands still tightly clasped together, intending on never letting go of each other, if they could help it.

The ninken on the former avenger's lap cracked open one eye, looking at the two males sleeping side-by-side. _Finally. Finally, they got their shit together,_ he thought, resettling himself onto the Uchiha's lap, his broad stomach keeping the healing man warm as he laid his head down on the Inuzuka's chest, crossing his large paws over each other as he shut his eyes once more, figuring that his getting a little bit more sleep wouldn't hurt anyone.

* * *

There were few things in this life that Hyūga Hanabi found more soothing and gratifying than training. Training was an amazing release of stress, bottled up and then focused on a specific object or person. Training was the unlocking and relaxation of her muscles, testing her fluidity and grace. Training was a moment of time when all her frustrations could be heard and abolished, even with these simple motions she'd been doing since she learned how to walk. Even though she was more than fluent in these motions—they were her language before speech—they still provided a comfort to her that she found so amazing.

Gritting her teeth, she whipped around, slamming the back of her leg into the wooden post in front of her. For the past hour, she'd been performing basic attacks—hitting, punching, kicking—moves that were simply a warm up to any Hyūga clansman. The motions she was preparing for required loose, warmed up muscles and a more than ready body; hence the basic motions learned in the first few days of walking.

Technically, she supposed she should be resting, considering what she had to do last night, and considering the fact that Sasuke wasn't there to put the all-important capper on her chakra; but she was so _mad._

She was such an idiot. She knew that Obito would find a reason to avoid her if she breached too many barriers, and kissing him—however much she had loved doing it, and how much she was pretty sure he loved doing it, considering the way he was touching her—was a definite breach of his barriers. He was so worried about doing completely right by her that he forewent his own needs and happiness, and he didn't even really figure out that his feelings weren't exactly unrequited. She liked him, too—no, like was too small a descriptor. She knew what she felt for him; and it was love. Maybe she was too young, and maybe it was a stupid thing to do. But she couldn't help it. She'd fallen _head-over-feet in fucking love_ with him.

And now she felt like some slut because he hadn't even bothered to seek her after what'd happened. She wasn't sure if it was on purpose, but all this avoiding on his part—it pissed her off. She felt that deserved more than a boy who was more skilled in avoiding her than he ought to be, given his apparent feelings for her, which she was truly beginning to doubt. If he really cared about her, he wouldn't avoid her half as much as he did.

Her frown only deepened as she stepped away, digging into her pocket and pulling out her pill bottle, popping her medication into her mouth and swallowing it dry, too irritated to think about the bottles of water she'd placed by the trunk of the tree. She really wished that Sasuke was still around right now. Not that he was amazing at speaking to her, but she could speak to him candidly without worry of him judging her. Besides, if she wanted honesty, she could go to him—but, more correctly for her, if she wanted to attempt to beat the shit out of someone, he was the perfect man for the job. Sasuke was more than happy to spar with anyone, regardless of their rank, and she felt the same way about it. Neither of them held back on the other, and though it led to many bruises, broken bones, and sore-as-hell muscles, it was a gratifying release of irritations, which they both had their share of; each of them with their complicated-as-hell love lives.

She activated her Byakugan, falling into the mixed taijutsu stance she'd created. It was a crash-pairing of the Gentle Fist with normal taijutsu techniques, specifically the stances of Rock Lee—her right arm, her usually chakra-seal containing arm, bent at the elbow behind her back, her knees bent; the back of her hand touching the top of her sandal. She pushed off her front foot, turning her palm around to dig into the dirt before she used it to jump into the air, focusing her eyes on the weakest spot of the training block and throwing a kunai into that spot. Twisting in mid-air, she pulled her foot up in front of her, sending all of her chakra to her leg as she brought it down on the top of the kunai within the block, splitting the block in half with minimal effort. Trying to avoid getting stuck, she pulled her leg out by pushing off one half of the block with her free one, flipping in midair and landing in a crouch two meters away.

She moved to break the block again, but the sound of clapping broke her concentration. She stood bolt upright, turning around with wide pale lilac eyes, surprised that someone had found her. She purposely picked an abandoned training spot that she and Sasuke had stumbled upon by accident; no one knew where it was, and especially not someone who spent less time in Konoha than the clouds in the sky.

"How did you find me?" she asked; her eyes wide in surprise as she looked at Obito, who leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree, his face betraying no emotion. "You haven't been in Konoha for years, and a lot of shinobi don't even know this place exists. How could it be possible for you to have found me?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," he joked, pushing off the tree and walking over to her. She, of course, backed away, much to his surprise. "Don't want me to touch you?" he asked, his brows furrowing.

"Not right now. I'm mad," she admitted, trying to remain calm, trying to ignore how physically fit Obito had truly gotten over the years.

That sweatshirt hadn't done him a bit of justice. His arms, which had formerly been long and lanky, were built, packed with lean, tough muscle and covered with lightly tanned, scarred skin. His hitai-ate was tied around his neck rather than his upper arm, like it had been during their adolescence, and the material was black, also unlike the blue it used to be. He had taken to wearing the color orange, probably because wearing Naruto's hand-me-downs while traveling was easier than buying new ones, and wore an armored mesh tank top with a slim orange stripe on its hems, a similarity shown in the double slim orange stripes going down his black sweatpants, the bottoms of which were wrapped—tightly—with white wrappings. A black sweatshirt with the Nara house symbol stitched in orange on the sleeve was tied around his waist, and she [briefly] wondered where his Uchiha sweatshirt was before remembering the fight last night. It couldn't possibly be in good condition, considering the way he took care of business.

Why hadn't she noticed that he truly was that hot before? She had just loved him blindly, but she could see exactly _what _she'd fallen in love with right now, and it was amazing to see that _he_ actually wanted _her_, of all the girls he could want—or, at least, she thought he did. She wasn't so sure. She took another step back.

And then he took two steps forwards. They repeated this until her back was pressed against the old, rusted fence that surrounded the rather small, abandoned training area, and only a centimeter of space separated their bodies from touching. She bit her lip, hating this feeling of submission that she was forced into, and hating even more the molten look Obito was giving him in his dark brown depths. "Why are you avoiding me, Hanabi?" he asked softly.

She growled under her breath. "I'm not! You're avoiding me!"

He frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. "How can I be avoiding you if I've been looking for you for hours?"

She blinked. "Say what now?"

He chuckled. "Hanabi, I'm _not _avoiding you. Not this time."

"B-But… you didn't… after the fight… you never…"

"Hanabi, Shizuka killed someone last night," he said bluntly, making her eyes widen. "He was in shock, so after they inspected us for injuries and genjutsu afflictions, I took him to his apartment, and since it was so late and I wasn't exactly in the most sober of moments and I was worried about Shizuka, Genma allowed me to crash on his couch. I was worried about you, but I figured you'd get pissed at me if I left Shizuka completely alone while he was dealing with having killed someone." Moving slowly, he moved his hand to hers, pulling it off of the fence and taking it in his warm, rough grip. "I was worried about you, though. I wasn't avoiding you."

"You were… you were worried? About me?"

"Of course I was. What kind of asshole do you think I am? You were in a fight last night, and I couldn't walk away from mine to go help you. The party was attacked because I was there, and you got caught up in it. I was incredibly worried about you; I just couldn't make my way to you." He stroked the middle of her palm with his rough, calloused thumb. "I… I love you, Hanabi. I was worried you were hurt. I'm sorry I couldn't help you out last night, and I'm sorry that I didn't show as much concern as I was supposed to." He bit his lips, and dared to lean his forehead against hers, his bare forehead touching her hitai-ate.

"But, from what I just saw, I think you can handle yourself against a bunch of third-rate shinobi like those were."

"So you do care about me?" she asked uncertainly.

He chuckled. "Apparently, my words aren't getting to you, so maybe I should try a more… _physical_… form of communication." His free hand tilted up her chin, allowing him easy access to her lips, kissing them sweetly and gently. "How's that? Or do you need more physical communication?" he whispered as he pulled his lips back, his breath tickling her sensitive skin.

She swallowed her inhibitions. "I think I need more," she said.

He chuckled again, grinning. "As you wish, my love," he murmured as he claimed her lips again, this time a harder, more demanding kiss that had her knees going weak. She hated submission, but if it were to Obito… maybe… once in a while…it would be okay. As long as he kept kissing her this intently, this passionately, she figured she would be perfectly okay with being submissive to him. More than okay, actually… once he began to use that almost sinfully gifted tongue of his, that is.

* * *

**_And there goes another chapter. _**

**_So now I've gotten Hanabi and Obito together (finally)... and so are Kiba and Sasuke! :3 One proud authoress right here! _**

**_I start school again soon. I should say that uploads will be sporadic, but honestly, having school just makes me write more often. I think you guys will be okay. _**

**_I'm thinking of renaming the fic. If I do, the choices would be:_**

**_"Welcome to the Family" OR _**

**_"Of Fighters"_**

**_Please vote on it! Review this chapter with your choice, please, even if it's to tell me to stop being moronic and leave it alone. I like hearing from you guys. _**

**_Thanks _****_sailorangelmoon1_****_... I'm glad the pace is definitely picking up! I wasn't sure if I did that successfully or not! xP_**

**_I hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you guys later! _**


	17. Chapter 16: Claim

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

_CLAIM_

_/klām/_

_state or assert that something is the case, typically without providing evidence or proof; assert that one has gained or achieved [something]; a demand or request for something considered one's due; a right or title_

* * *

Sasuke was gone.

It was like something straight out of Kiba's fears. He had been terrified that Sasuke would disappear; terrified he'd find out everything had been nothing more than an amazing dream, and now here he was, lying here alone, Sasuke's body warmth no where in the vicinity—not even Akamaru was there. He sat upright quickly, his dark brown eyes filling with concern and worry. He'd been right there. He had really been there—he could smell him still, and his spot was still warm, so the idea that he hadn't been there was preposterous. Hell, his scent was on his right hand, which was mostly red with the imprint of Sasuke's hand, from his vice-like grip.

"Sasuke?" he whispered, getting to his feet. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep, but judging from the light coming in through the window, it was somewhere in the late afternoon. Walking over to the window and pulling aside the curtains, he took a quick glance, using the knowledge he'd gained from Sasuke and figured out it was somewhere around six o'clock. What time he'd passed out, he wasn't sure, but he knew he'd probably been asleep a good few hours.

Sasuke had probably only been gone a good few minutes, thirty at the most, so he couldn't have gotten very far, could he? Internally, he groaned—he felt like an obsessive girlfriend. Wasn't he a guy? Why was he acting as if Sasuke wasn't born with properly working legs and couldn't possibly function without him? He felt annoying and clingy, but he couldn't help it. He'd been thinking about Sasuke for years—_years_—and now he finally got over himself and let him have what he wanted. Of course he was going to be worried about Sasuke, even if it was to an obsessive, controlling amount. Sasuke had almost died just the night before; he needed to be resting, not walking about, and definitely not out of his line of sight.

He'd already made that mistake once, and he wasn't going to just let it happen again. He finally had his Uchiha, and he wasn't just going to let go of him that easily. Over his dead body, would he let him go that easily again. Sasuke was _his_—not that _fuck_ Kabuto's, his. He couldn't help but smirk at that, thinking, _my Sasuke. My Uchiha Sasuke. My… my boyfriend, Sasuke...? _That would be a new experience—not a fuck buddy, but an actual boyfriend…

No.

No, _boyfriend_ sounded nothing like what Sasuke was to him… Sasuke was more than just a boyfriend to him. He couldn't just see himself always calling Sasuke as 'my boyfriend'. As an Inuzuka, he'd been taught that the term 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' implied a sense of a temporary situation. There was absolutely no way in hell did he want the situation to be temporary. He wanted Sasuke to be his. Hell, he was his. Sasuke was… his _mate_. He was a mate. Sasuke was _his_ mate, and he was _Sasuke's_ mate, and that was that.

Yeah, he liked the sound of that.

"Maa, I'm not a pervert."

Kiba blinked, frowning. That voice sounded so familiar… actually, it sounded _exactly _like Kaka…

"Yes, you are, actually."

His face lit up—Sasuke!

He somehow resisted the urge to run in the direction of the voice, knowing that all the dog jokes he got would be proven correct if he did. While it was easy to ignore some of them because they were just plain stupid (for example, some people thought he couldn't see colors) there were some that, growing up around a bunch of dogs, he just picked up on (for example, running to the door when someone familiar and family-like came home, especially with jerky) and he knew would only fuel the aforementioned idiocy. So he forced himself to walk slowly, blinking against the sun as he opened the sliding door.

Obito and Kakashi were sitting on the first few steps, Kakashi in full ANBU uniform sans the porcelain mask; Sasuke in a blue-and-orange sweatshirt, sitting down right next to them, his black hair glinting blue in the waning sun.

Obito was the first to turn around. "Oh, hi. You're awake. Your dog ran out, and Sasuke woke up and decided to chase after him—"

"Like an idiot," Kakashi said, not turning around.

Sasuke glared. "I was _worried_," he said in a steely voice, making Kiba grin. Sasuke's anger was amusing to him when it was pointed towards anyone else but him. It made him fiery and sexy to Kiba, more than he already was.

He came up behind him, sucking in a nervous breath before he sat down directly behind him, a leg on either side of the Uchiha, one arm wrapping around his waist. Sasuke flicked a glance back at him, slightly confused for a second, before understanding and allowing himself to lean into the Inuzuka. Kiba shakily exhaled, the biggest smile coming onto his face as he wrapped his other arm around him. It didn't escape Sasuke's notice, Kiba's immediate pride in himself, and he found himself holding back the most idiotic smile his facial muscles could put together. There were moments were Kiba was big and bad (well, as big and bad as he could seem to Sasuke) and then there was moments like these were he was adorable, like a puppy, and Sasuke couldn't help but find him more attractive than he already did. Of course, he refused to let _Kakashi _know of this and therefore have ammo to tease him with, hence why he hid that ridiculously big smile that threatened his lips.

"—As I was saying, then Kakashi came just around the time that Sasuke was about to die from exhaustion and pain, and so we gave him some pain meds, but he was whining and bitching so much that we were afraid he was gonna wake you up. And we still haven't caught your dog," Obito finished with a sigh, irritated slightly at the fact that the two shinobi had interrupted his retelling.

"Hn," said Sasuke, pouting slightly, hating the fact that he was portrayed as a whiny little bitch.

Kiba still smiled like an idiot. "I'm not worried about him. If anything, he smelt something good and decided to go investigate. He wouldn't leave without a reason, and he gets playful when people come up to him excited, like how Sasuke must've done. Did he nudge you on the back with his nose when you thought you'd lost him?"

Sasuke's frown deepened. "Little bastard did!"

He laughed. "He was teasing you. If he teases you, he definitely likes you. Not that laying all over your stomach and lap before wasn't any indication. Did he try to bite Kakashi-sensei and Uchiha-san?" The two visibly frowned and looked at each other. Kiba merely tilted his head back and laughed more, highly amused by his dog's antics.

Sasuke smirked, weaving his fingers between Kiba's and moving further into his warm body without even a thought. Kakashi noticed Sasuke's comfort within Kiba's arms, and he managed to withhold his smile. He hadn't seen Sasuke so happy since his Genin days, when he was arguing with Naruto. Actually, that wasn't true—Sasuke was happier than those days right now, in Kiba's arms. It looked like how he used to be, before the massacre, when he didn't truly _know_ him, but knew _of_ him.

Kiba's laughter gradually died down, and he removed his arms from around Sasuke in order to support his body with his hands, leaning back, pleased when Sasuke leaned further into him. He couldn't get over the fact that Sasuke actually wanted somebody like him—a mutt like him—when Sasuke could have any other person in the world, if he wanted. His choices were not limited, and yet, somehow, he was content… with _him_. Uchiha Sasuke was content with him, Inuzuka Kiba. He smiled, pressing his face into the top of Sasuke's black head, the strands of surprisingly soft hair tickling his nose and his cheeks, his lips pressing against Sasuke's scalp in a lazy, closed-mouth kiss that had Sasuke shivering just slightly.

"Hey, Kakashi, I've got to show you… something," said Obito, tapping the silver-haired male's shoulder. Kakashi looked at him, confused, but Obito simply grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him into the house and, none too slyly, leaving the two males to themselves (or as alone as they could be, what with the two older men simply standing just inside the door, if his sense of smell didn't steer him wrong). Kiba's smile widened—that Uchiha reminded him a lot of Naruto. He even wore a little bit of orange in his ensemble, making him bear more resemblance—he wore orange-tinted glasses, as well as a thin orange stripe going down his pants leg.

He really didn't know how _this_ Uchiha Obito could've been the same Uchiha Obito who tried to kill him only four years ago anymore, and he felt absolutely no hatred towards him anymore—he was just, admittedly, slightly miffed at Hinata for knowing and hiding it from him, but he knew that the moment he saw her he'd more than likely forgive her; they had been best friends for too long for him to stay mad at her for something that he no longer saw as such a big deal. Of course, he knew it was, but he also knew better than to talk about it out loud. After all—Rin and Obito were supposed to be _dead_.

It didn't matter anymore, though.

Sasuke was _alive_ because of them.

_That _was what mattered to him.

"You owe me something," he murmured, moving his lips to the patch of skin behind Sasuke's ear, making the Uchiha flinch slightly.

"Do I?" Sasuke whispered coyly, tightening his grip on Kiba's knees.

Kiba hummed his agreement, moving onto the pale skin of his neck. He couldn't get enough of the Uchiha. He'd spent four years lusting after him, and denying himself that lust and, apparently, Sasuke had done the very same thing, though his denial was formed more out of self-defense than blind hatred and misunderstanding (something that Kiba planned on definitely making up to the man now that he was his).

"What is it?" Sasuke asked with a shiver as Kiba pulled down the zipper of the sweatshirt Obito was lending him (judging by the obscene amount of orange on it) in order to play with the bare skin of his shoulder. Sasuke tried to muffle his moan, but Kiba didn't need to hear that to know that Sasuke was getting aroused; he could plainly see the goosebumps dotting his pale skin where he touched and stroked. Feeling mischievous, he dipped his head just enough to flick his tongue against the skin, tasting the salt from sweat and smelling dirt, grime, grass, fresh water, and a hint of body wash from his last _real_ bathing (because honestly, a stream bath did not make the cut to Kiba in terms of baths, no matter how sexy it'd been to him to watch him bathe in secret). Sasuke let out a obviously pleasured grin, his body tensing as if he was going to get up and run off.

"You know _exactly_ what it is," he murmured, moving one hand to wrap around Sasuke's midsection, to stop him from attempting to run off. "So don't play dumb, Sasuke…" He nipped at the skin, and Sasuke barely withheld a groan. "…And turn around and _give me what I **want**_."

He knew the Uchiha was fast, but he didn't realize how fast until Sasuke had him pinned against the ground, the only thing to indicate that he was losing control over himself was the rapidly spinning tomes of his Sharingan (well, the reddening of his cheeks were a display as well, but Kiba hardly noticed them at the time). Kiba smirked, knowing he was the one getting Sasuke so riled.

"So, you've got me with my legs open. Nice, but not what I want right now. Too fast, Sasuke; too fast." Sasuke turned a brighter shade of red, and Kiba realized that Sasuke didn't deal with perversion as well as he did—he did, after all, get raised around a bunch of dogs, understanding their every word, and they all spoke very candidly about sex. Maybe too candidly, as Kiba figured out when he started school.

"Stop speaking to me like that; I can't focus," he said, his long black bangs brushing against Kiba's cheeks, his warm breath tickling Kiba's face. "If I wanted to kiss some disgusting, crude _pervert_, I'd kiss _Kakashi_!"

"Maa, I heard that, you brat!" Kakashi couldn't help but bark from inside, "You _wish_ you could have some of this!"

He could hear something akin to bickering between Kakashi and Obito in the background, but honestly Kiba hardly noticed. His jealousy rose in his throat at the threat Sasuke made him, and he found himself wanting to run off with Sasuke and yelling out for the entire world to hear, 'Mine! Mine! You can't have him, he's fucking mine'.

However, that was highly impractical.

And that was like _asking_ for Sasuke to Tsukuyomi him, if not Amaterasu his ass into the ground.

"Better not, dammit," growled Kiba, eyebrow raising and surprising the Uchiha with his sudden seriousness, "I'm a very possessive person, when I get into a one-on-one relationship with someone. You're _mine_, Uchiha, all fucking _mine_! You're not kissing with anyone else but me _ever fucking again_." He craned his neck, licking Sasuke's chin and causing him to tremble. "If you wanna kiss anyone, you're coming to me. If you even have the slightest inclination to _fuck_ someone, _I'm_ the person, I'm _your _person, and trust me, Uchiha; by getting into something like this with me… we're guaranteed to _fuck_." He let his head come back to the ground, staring up into the red depths of the Sharingan. "You're fucking _mine_!"

"I'm not a fucking possession!" Sasuke growled, visibly irritated, in addition to turned on with the amount of possessiveness that Kiba was displaying over him.

"No, you're my _mate_, but the fact remains that, in some fashion… you are mine to love, to kiss, to _fuck_! I want _you;_ Sasuke and nothing else!" he responded, finally giving his cocky smile again. "You're mine to mark. You're mine to do anything I want with. Understand me?!"

Sasuke growled under his breath. "I better get what I give," he grumbled, loosening his grip on the Inuzuka. "I don't do things halfway. If I give something, I better damn well receive in kind. I want everything I'm giving to you, and you better accept who I am. I'm possessive, and I get jealous easily, and I'm quick to make assumptions at first glance. I'm impulsive, I'm really fucked in the head from everything I've gone through."

"I'm annoying, talkative, I curse too much, I try too hard to fit in, I make my own first-glance assumptions, I cling to prejudices, and I'm an idiot. I don't think through things before I act, but I always put my friends and my family before myself. I'm crude, and I like perverted humor, and I know that everyone in this world is a different brand of fucked." He pulled his hand from under Sasuke's grip, placing it on the back of Sasuke's neck. "The thing about it is looking past that part of a person and accepting them for every bit of fucked-up that they are—and I have, in you." With that, he forced Sasuke's head down, fusing his lips to Sasuke's in a none-too-sweet kiss, pulling away for a moment to add, "And I'm never going to fucking let you go. _You're mine_, Uchiha Sasuke, you're _mine_."

Normally, such a statement would've pissed Sasuke off.

But when Kiba said it, all he could hope was that Kiba was telling him the truth.

* * *

"Sir, one of us… he was captured."

Kabuto looked up from the wounds he was currently healing, a confused look in his eye, which had the oversized bull of a man quivering in his shoes. Kabuto didn't like to be confused—he liked always knowing the stakes and variables. He liked being on top. Being confused meant he was blindsided, and, therefore, not on top. Being confused meant he wasn't a controller; he was a game piece, and he _refused_ to become some other game piece. He'd been one all his damned life, and he was sick of it.

"Which one?" he hissed, dropping the needle to the metal tray and standing up, his height nowhere near as great as the man in front of him, but his physical appearance was enough to get the man ready to piss himself with fear. Kabuto's mere presence had all of his shinobi scared, regardless of the caliber they were at. It was all a matter of simple control—and he had it, with every single one of them.

The shinobi struggled to remain calm. "Y-Your pet, sir."

Kabuto growled, grabbing the bull of a man by the throat, his snakes slithering down his arm on demand. The man fought the urge to scream in terror, simply stilling himself and hoping Kabuto wouldn't tell them to bite him. He knew what this venom did to people—it was a punishment he often used on the shinobi who strayed from his most noble task—and he didn't want it to happen to him, because Kabuto would never give a shinobi as lowly as him an antidote for the venom. He wasn't a necessary part of his plan; Kabuto could kill him and never think twice. But he didn't want him to kill him—he really didn't. He wanted to live.

"You took _him_?!"

"You said to use all available arms, Yakushi-sama, and he was! He's proven time and time again his capabilities on the battlefield—!" Kabuto tightened his grip, his snakes constricting around the ninja's lungs.

"He was no pawn like you are, you _fucking_ moron! He was an unseasoned knight and you sent my valued piece out without my permission! He was not _ready yet_!" Kabuto snapped, his eyes flashing with more anger than the ninja had ever seen in his leader before. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end your miserable life right now… just one bite is all it takes, so be swift, and be _concise_!"

"The seal worked! It worked on one of the shinobi! It held!"

Kabuto paused, his creepy eyes searching the ninja's face for any sign of a lie. "Are you positive? Did you have its signature traced successfully?" he growled, and the man was quick to nod empathetically. Kabuto and his snakes loosened their grip, and the man relaxed slightly. "How strong was the signature?"

"Very," he gasped out, panting at the release of so much pure tension, both physically and mentally. He was so panicked that he couldn't even think straight, which was a pity—he should've known that a lull was exactly what Kabuto was looking for. His snake seemingly flew down his arm, wrapping itself tightly around the bulky shinobi's neck, making his eyes bulge out. "Ya-Ya…ku…"

"I decided to go back on my promise. While that's very good information, you just lost me a valuable asset, and that cannot be overlooked. That boy was more important than you will ever be to me." He wanted to use the venom, but he decided that he didn't want his poor snake's mouth tainted by such scum. "Besides, think of it this way… our troops will eat fresh tonight." He grinned evilly, turning away from the choking shinobi, picking up his robe from the chair he had been sitting in, walking away.

* * *

The Torture and Interrogation Squadron of Konohagakure (also known simply as T&I by the shinobi within the village) is founded on a few basic principles, which could be summed up into one simple statement: everything in this world can be found out with something as simple as pain and a well-placed question. Nothing was a secret, for very long, anyways; not in the hands of Morino Ibiki and his T&I squadron. They were the very best at getting information out of people (though, in Ibiki's opinion, Nara Shikamaru was looking a hell of a lot better than some of the people he had, and that simply intrigued him. He knew a good interrogator when he saw one, and Shikamaru definitely had the skills) with nothing more than the appropriate amount of pain and suffering, and they had a high tolerance for the irritating people ending up at their table; mostly due to the belief of the entire squadron that even the hardest can crack under pressure.

Of course, there are a few who can pass through this rule, despite all appearances that point towards the contrary. Ibiki wasn't a person to make many assumptions based purely on appearances—he was more of a factual kind of man—but the oddity that was this kid was astounding. For one thing, though Ibiki had immediately seen through it, the boy was an amazing actor; feigning fear when, honestly, he had been more bloodthirsty than the rest of the invading shinobi there. He could simply see it. There was nothing in his body language to tell him, nor in his eyes or his facial expression or even his words. He just _saw _it.

Once Ibiki told him to drop the act, the boy merely shrugged and grinned, saying, "That obvious, hmm? I could never play the part of scared little runt very well, though it seems most of the shinobi here fell for my little ploy, except for that guy with the weird eyes."

The boy's name was Naito, and although he was really a thirteen-year-old, he was not brought against his own will, he was not an idiot, nor was he a weakling; though he would admit that the shinobi he had been forced into fighting last night had a distinct advantage over him when it came to physical strength and even skill, and he knew he would've been beaten if he continued to fight, hence why he quickly began to feign innocence and weakness. The boy had no problem telling him all this, but right afterwards, he became cockier—leading him to rely on another form of communication: pain.

It was then that things went south.

It started off as it normally did—lashings to his bared back and torso while Ibiki continued to drill him with questions. Though the boy bled, and he did curse when being hit, he looked at Ibiki as if he hadn't put much work into trying to get information out of him. He merely took the lashes, even when they cut through the skin and caused him to bleed with a smirk and an 'honestly, you can do _so _much better than this' look in his violet eyes.

So he upgraded from the whips to the senbon needles, having his men insert them in the most painful spots on the human body. Usually, when he did this, he didn't even have to worry about mental torture—this was enough, especially paired with the long, jagged cuts made down the boy's back with a knife, crossing over the slices from the lashing. But Naito merely smirked, his eyes showing the pain he felt, as well as the strange amount of pleasure he managed to derive from it, his grin both shaky and psychotic.

"More, more, _more_; you pussies, more! Is this seriously the best any of you have?!" he asked, his tone on the edges of pure madness.

So he brought out the drilling set, puncturing the boy's body at several points with centimeter-large drill bits. The blood ran, and he did scream, but through it all, Ibiki could hear his maniacal laughs. Naito did feel the pain—that was obvious enough—but he _enjoyed _it. He so thoroughly enjoyed feeling such a pain that it made Ibiki immediately stop and sent his men out of the room, coming to the realization that pain was a language this boy seemed to speak _way_ too fluently for it to be good. It was if he was made to withstand torture.

He didn't even feel the need to try mental torture—if he could handle physical torture, then mental torture would be a piece of piss for him. Besides, mental torture was a finicky thing. In order to do it, one must know exactly what buttons to press, and Ibiki didn't know if this kid even had any buttons. It was difficult to tell.

Naito kept laughing as Ibiki left the room, knowing that Ibiki knew that he was wasting time trying to get information out of him. When he closed the door and leaned against it, Ibiki allowed himself to growl, pissed that his usual methods weren't working. He hated having to resort to another torture other than pain—without pain, he actually had to figure out what he could hold in front of this kid to get what he wanted.

"Sir!" Ibiki looked up, not bothering to take the scowl off of his face as one of his underlings ran up to him, a folder in his hands. "The lab results you asked for are done." Of course, pointing out the more than obvious only made his scowl deepen.

He ripped the folder out of his hands, scaring off the Chūnin without even saying one word. That alone managed to wipe away the look somewhat—at least he could instill the fear of hell into _someone_. Would it be better if it was that little dickhead inside his interrogation room? Admittedly, yes. It would. But anyone worked, he figured; as he pushed off the door, opening the folder in his hands and taking a quick glance which almost immediately turned into a thorough two-hour read.

He really had no idea what happened, but he found himself in his office (which he hardly used, preferring to be spending more time interrogating than sitting on his ass and doing nothing), a smirk on his face as the information he learned in the reading time easily presented itself as leverage against the bastard.

He pressed the button on the speaker system which connected him to the earpieces of every shinobi under his jurisdiction.

"First person to bring me Nara Shikamaru gets the rest of the day off."

Morino Ibiki was not an idiotic man. He knew exactly how to make his men work for him.

He took his button off of the button, leaning back in his chair and spent the rest of his time waiting for Nara Shikamaru to arrive coming up with a plan to assure that this worked entirely in his favor.

_Let the mental torture begin. _

* * *

The Nara compound's clan head's house was mostly silent at the moment, with the exception of the sound of tapping onto a wooden board, peacefully so. It allowed Nara Shikamaru to focus on the game of Shogi he'd somehow managed to get himself into with Sabaku nō Kankurō, who was actually proving to make a challenge for Shikamaru. He hadn't expected it, but he knew he should've—it only made sense; Kankurō was a puppeteer, strategy was what his jutsu were mostly about. He was better than many of the people Shikamaru had ever played before, with his surprising amount of patience and his purely analytical mind.

Hinata managed to keep Soyokaze busy by whispering to him stories as the two watched on, constantly supplying the boy with a storyline to go along with the game and keeping him intrigued with the game play between the two adults. Soyokaze watched with large blue eyes, nodding his head as Hinata spun her tale and the two males silently battled it out with their game pieces.

This was a serenity that didn't so often exist in the Nara house, due to the way Shikamaru's mother tended to involve herself. By some grace of God, however, Yoshino was currently inside, bedridden, leaving Shikaku and Shikamaru to go about their own devices without being bothered. They knew like the sun rose in the morning that this permit to do whatever they wanted would not last very long, and since Shikamaru had been dying to get out of his house duties even for a little while, he happily took the opportunity.

"Check, Kankurō," said Shikamaru, picking up his cup of tea and taking a quick sip before Kankurō successfully made his way out of the disadvantage without needlessly conquering one of Shikamaru's generals, which was a trick his father so often fell for, and so did Asuma. He couldn't help but smile in memory of playing with his teacher, those days when Asuma would get them out of training just so they could appease his need for a challenge with the board game. It had taken a while, but he could now look at those memories without feeling jilted of something. They were fond now, memories of time well spent with a man who earned all of his respect without even trying for it.

Soyokaze leaned forwards slightly, pointing to Shikamaru's silver general piece and whispering in the ear of his soon-to-be aunt-by-marriage. She whispered her response, which Shikamaru could barely make out to be "Because when you don't need to, why do it", a response he couldn't have delivered better himself. Soyokaze nodded, accepting the information and settling back down calmly. One would think that it was the fact that Hinata was around that Soyokaze was so uncharacteristically calm, but it was actually Kankurō's doing. The boy so admired the Sand puppeteer—in his eyes, he was more holy than _God_—and he wanted to seem mature and intelligent for his uncle, which he actually was already.

Kankurō flicked a glance at his nephew and wordlessly held out his hand for him. Within an instant, Soyokaze was settling down in Kankurō's lap, blue eyes wide with pride and happiness. Kankurō picked up his rook, holding it in front of the boy's face. "Did Hina-hime tell you how this piece moves, Soyo-kun?" he asked affectionately.

Soyokaze nodded empathetically. "Up and down, and to the sides, in straight lines," he responded with as few words as possible, another thing that differentiated himself so much from other three-year-olds—he didn't use a bounty of the same words over and over again to get his point across (example: "Because I said [this] because she said it because I said it because its true because it is").

"Good. Now, where do I want to move it, Soyo?" he asked. Soyokaze turned in his lap, his small face's area almost taken up with his wide blue eyes.

"I's gets to pick?" Hinata and Shikamaru both withheld their laughs—the boy was so innocent, and it was amusing.

"Yes. I know you can't steer me wrong," Kankurō replied softly, his smile widening on his face. At first, when Soyokaze was much younger, Shikamaru was doubtful of having the broad-shouldered puppeteer around his young son. He had known of Kankurō's dislike for children, and expected him to mistreat his son, but to his surprise, Kankurō treated him as if he were his own son, in Shikamaru's opinion. Kankurō actually adored the boy, and, like Gaara; spoiled him with gifts and affection as often as possible. He was one of the very few children that Shikamaru had seen that Kankurō hadn't treated as if they were a nuisance.

Hinata sided up next to Shikamaru, her arms wrapping around her legs as she watched her fiancé with his nephew from across the board. She smiled, happy to see that Kankurō wasn't treating him like a nuisance, like a small part of her had suspected him to do due to the fact that he disliked most children. She found herself thinking about the idea of a child—which, since a young age, she most definitely wanted. Though he was odd, and practically like a big kid himself sometimes, she really did want to have children with him.

She bit her lip and put her forehead against her knees, thinking about the moment about two months ago where she was almost sure she'd been pregnant, only to find her period was just late. While she'd been relieved—she was on a mission at the time, after all—she'd also felt a distinct disappointment at not being pregnant, at not being with child. It was at that exact moment that she realized how much she really wanted children, even though she was afraid that they would have the same affliction as her little sister. She wanted to be pregnant, she wanted to give birth, she wanted to raise a child that would, in some way, resemble Kankurō, or his siblings.

The serenity of the moment was interrupted as soon as Soyokaze placed the rook down onto the board, in the form of two Chūnin that landed down right beside them on the large porch. Soyokaze yelped in surprise, nearly jumping right out of Kankurō's arms before the Sand nin tightened his grip on him, keeping him in place and from injuring himself. The two Konoha Jōnin, however, merely blinked in slight recognition that they were vaguely surprised—it took a hell of a lot more than that to truly surprise either heir anymore.

"Nara-san, Ibiki-sama needs you," said one of them.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What does the head of T&I need with me? I don't do tortures, and I'm almost sure my family's jutsu does not help with it, either."

Hinata raised an eyebrow at himnow—if the shinobi who'd broken into his house was any proof, he did torture rather well; and she had seen him do an interrogation personally. It was enough to scare her nearly shitless the first time she watched. The shadow jutsu of the Nara family was _well utilized _in interrogation, as well as a form of torture. Shikamaru was lying through his teeth and she really just wanted to smack him upside the head for it, but she knew that he was just trying to weasel out of it and continue to spend time with his son. His own father hadn't had the time to spend so much of it with him, and he wanted to be more involved with Soyokaze's life, even if it were just small moments like these, playing board games or playing tag.

"He hasn't informed us. We just needed to get you."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "How troublesome." He looked at Hinata. "Do you and Kankurō mind watching him? Temari is spending a day with Gaara because my mom's sick today. She wanted to give Gaara a free day from this energetic little one." Soyokaze blushed and snuggled deeper into Kankurō's arms as Hinata smiled softly, nodding at him. Shikamaru sighed once more; annoyed that he was being forced to leave in the middle of the game, and got up, shaking his head in irritation. "You people are troublesome. Lead the way."

Soyokaze pulled himself out of Kankurō's arms, running around the small table and hugging his much taller father's legs before he could walk away. "Bye-bye, Otō. Come home safe," he said with a smile, looking up at his father with wide blue eyes. Shikamaru smiled down at the boy, kneeling down and giving his forehead a kiss.

"Yare, yare, troublesome," he muttered, shaking his head. Hinata's smile widened more. It was Shikamaru's own way of saying 'I love you'.

Soyokaze giggled and grinned. "I's loves you, too, Otō," he said, reading Shikamaru's words easily.

* * *

_**Good news (to me): Of Strength pushed past 20,000 views last week, and each of its chapters has more than 150 views. That makes me so happy :) **_

_**Bad news (to me): I currently am stuck on chapter 28 of this story. I know what I want to happen, but I can't put it down. I've only gotten one part down so far :( I've been working frantically on it. I thought working a little on the Ripple Effect would help, but it didn't. I have time before you guys catch up, but I hate having partial writer's block. **_

_**More Good news (to me): I got three reviews for the last chapter, all of them goodies :) I didn't realize how many people liked the SasukexKiba pairing I put in here... and I also didn't realize how thick I made them appear. It wasn't intentional on the part of Hanabi, but I can see why you guys thought that... but whoops... xP **_

_**To leesa323: heehee, sorry on the thickheaded-ness... I didn't want it all to happen too quickly, like I did in Of Strength. Getting into a relationship is hella difficult, more difficult than I'd made it appear; and so I wanted to draw it all out (and plus, I enjoyed just a tiny bit making them suffer, mostly Sasuke and Kiba). **_

_**To artforlife: glad you love KibaSasu! This story is the first time I've ever written with two gay (well, Kiba's bi, but still) characters, and this inspired me to do others! And thanks for the praise of my writing... that always means a lot :D **_

_**To sailorangelmoon1: I wrote Obito as being hot? Then I did good, because I was so worried about that whole scene... I was sure it was out of character for him, but I was really trying to stress that he's given up on not wanting Hanabi finally, because that had officially ticked me off and I was tired of them dancing around each other x)**_

_**In other news, I still ask you guys to review and tell me if you want to change the story's title. I take every review into consideration. I am really serious about the possibility of this title changing, and while I really do appreciate these lovely reviews, they aren't enough for me to base my decision off of. So review and tell me if you want me to change the title if you haven't already! **_

_**Also: review and tell me if people are open to the idea of a Kiba and Sasuke limey scene. It wouldn't be next week's chapter, but definitively after chapter 28... not sure exactly when. I want to write one, but if people don't want it I won't put into the story. **_

_**Also, this is looking to be longer than Of Strength. Just a warning. **_


	18. Chapter 17: Youth

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**_

* * *

_YOUTH_

_/y__o͞oTH/ _

_the period between childhood and adult age; the state or quality of being young, esp. as associated with vigor, freshness, or immaturity, an early stage in the development of someone or something._

* * *

She didn't know when they stopped, or why, or even how, but she found herself trapped under Obito's warm body, their legs tangled together, his fingers tangled in her long hair. He continually pressed open-mouthed kissed into her neck and shoulder, either trying to keep her awake or to keep himself busy, though his hands were doing enough to keep him busy, as they ran up and down her torso, familiarizing himself with every curve she had to offer. She stared up at the sky, a wide smile on her face as she allowed him to touch her, allowed him to explore her.

She was so incredibly happy that a bomb could go off right now and she wouldn't truly care—she just wanted to feel every touch and caress that Obito had to offer her, she wanted to bask in his affections for as long as possible. Maybe she was being spoiled and selfish, but she couldn't help it. She still couldn't believe Obito had finally taken the plunge with her; that he finally put aside his own doubts and came after her—and so confidently, too!

"You okay?" he hummed, lightly nipping at a hickey he'd laid into her skin not too long ago, forcing her to stifle her moan at the contact with the sensitive skin.

"Y-Yeah," she whispered, staring up at the sky with half-lidded eyes as Obito gently gave her breasts a squeeze. Maybe they were moving pretty quickly—third base in only a couple of hours of their first _real _kiss—but she also just didn't care. She'd known him for years already. They were already so close, so did it matter how fast they were going through the stages? She felt him breathe a laugh through his nose, and he flicked his tongue against the hickey, making her gasp in surprise. She knew he was just trying to get her full attention.

"I-I'm awake, dammit!" she yelped.

"Not what I asked. Are you okay?" he asked calmly—as though he wasn't massaging her right breast with such enthusiasm, leaning his chin on his fist, putting his weight on his elbow instead of her, their groins pressed together still. He looked down at her, the only thing showing that he wasn't in control of himself at the moment was the fact that his Sharingan and Rinnegan kept activating and reactivating at random intervals. She didn't know why the Uchiha had such a lack of control over their dōjutsu sometimes—she had the Byakugan, but it didn't randomly activate to deactivate when _she _was in the throes of passion (a thought that she promptly blushed at due to the sheer phrasing of it).

"Y-Yeah… _ah_… I-I'm okay…" she murmured, placing her hand on top of his, pressing it down somewhat. She knew she should be stopping him, but hell-it felt so damned _good._ He smirked and pressed down _just right_, continuing to play with her breast. Cocky, for someone who was in about as much control of himself as she was, she figured. She arched slightly into his hand, her cheeks turning red from the slightest bit of mortification she felt at basically being publicly fondled. "A-Are you… _ah_… more… Obi…to…"

"Hmm?" he asked, intentionally removing the misbehaving hand from Hanabi's breast. She whined wordlessly, attempting to grab at his hand. He sighed and sat up, removing his warmth from over her body.

"Wha…"

"It's practically nighttime, Hanabi. We've been here for hours, making out on and off," he informed her with a shy smile, rubbing the top of his head. She turned a brighter shade of red as her pale lilac eyes widened. _Shit. Seriously? It didn't feel so long… and I'm the one who's been watching the fucking sky all day; why the hell didn't I notice?! _Hanabi thought, finally noticing how cold the air really had become. Smirking, he untied his sweatshirt from around his waist, pulling it over her shoulders. She smiled at him, pushing her arms through the sleeves. The sweatshirt was way too big for her, but it was comfy and it was warm and it was _his-_oh, so importantly, it was his.

"Are we in a relationship?" she asked shyly.

He blinked. To be honest, the thought that Hanabi might still be confused on the status of their relationship hadn't been one he had expected, but he did understand it. "Um… yeah. We are." He smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, we're in a relationship, Nabi-chan." He licked his lips and leaned in closer to her. "I… I want to take you out tonight, Hanabi. Do you have to go home anytime soon, or are you free to—"

"I'm free!" Hanabi interrupted with a squeak and bright red cheeks, placing a hand over her mouth. His eyes widened slightly, and she could swear they paled slightly, and that the veins in his temple protruded slightly. She blinked, raising a hand to his temple to feel the veins—yes, most definitely, they were showing. "You… you still have it?" she asked in a shaky voice, memories of a less happy time in their entire relationship coming to mind—memories of a certain split personality coming forth.

He blinked. "Have what?" he asked, his voice showing his nervousness.

Her eyes hardened slightly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Obito. Let's not fight two minutes into our relationship, and how about you give me a yes-or-no answer to my question. _You still have the Byakugan, Obito?_"

Unbeknownst to both shinobi, a third party was sitting in a tree, watching them silently with dark grey eyes narrowing slightly. He wrapped his arms around his legs, his grip tightening as he pulled his knees further into his chest. He'd been sitting up in the tree all day, watching them, observing them; trying to figure out Obito could act so _human_ after what he'd done so _inhumanely_ last night. Obito acted as if nothing happened, whereas he… his thoughts were consumed with the memory. He constantly relived seeing his blade go through the man's chest, and he constantly remembered the intense pleasure he'd felt as his katana sliced through the man as if he was made out of softened butter. The rush made him shiver with excitement, excitement he didn't want to feel at all. He wanted to forget, but he'd been stuck on it for nearly twenty-four hours now. He wanted—no,_ needed_, he needed that rush again. He needed to feel it again.

He ran his slender fingers through his hair, pulling at the brown locks. He felt so much different, compared to last night. He felt as if he was some insane copy of himself, a shell of his former self, someone who had to watch other people in order to feel human—even if it were his best friends making out. He would admit, thought-he never felt better than killing that bastard last night. He couldn't quantify it, but he felt so… affirmed. Affirmed in what, he didn't know; but he knew what he felt and he felt it. He felt affirmed for killing that man. He felt more like himself than he'd ever felt before in his life.

A squirrel ran up the branch, pulling him from his thoughts. He actually half-expected the urge to kill it, only to find that he allowed it to run up his arm and continue on its way up the tree. He sighed, smiling softly. Maybe he hadn't lost himself completely. Maybe he still was a human being.

He leaned his head on the trunk of the tree, looking up at the setting sun, wondering what the hell was he-if he was no longer simply Shizuka, nor was he a murderer; then what was he? Because he wasn't, and never had been, like everyone else. He felt the urge to feel irritated rising in the pit of his stomach, but he was good at suppressing it. He'd never been like normal people. Never. He was always an outcast amongst them. They didn't want him, and despite how many friends he could make, that would never change; the feeling that he wasn't wanted in this world. Only a handful of people existed that he was sure cared and wanted him, and he would protect them; the people who saved him from himself—or, if you were truly analytical, still saving him from himself.

_Time to go, _he thought, pushing himself off the trunk and to his feet, balancing without any problems on the thick tree branch. They had succeeded in making him feel like a human being for a couple of hours, and he knew that if he stayed any longer, he'd be intruding on something he didn't want to interrupt. Everyone deserved their own private moments; especially his best friends. With that thought, he jumped off of the branch, making his way back to the village; all the while not noticing that one of the two shinobi he had been watching was watching him as well, having spotted him when he was forced to activate his Byakugan for brief seconds.

_Shizu…_ Obito thought, wrapping his arm around Hanabi's shoulders as they slowly left the training area, their small dispute having been resolved within moments, _Shizu, please don't seclude yourself. Don't become lonely. Don't do it to yourself, not again…_

* * *

_"Where's my family?" _

_The priest looked up from the tribute he was currently laying out for his God, looking up at the boy who tried to hide in the crumbling stone pews. The church had seen better days, but it was still going strong, thanks to its most faithful followers and their constant keeping to the most holy mission their God had given them all. The boy's violet eyes were filled with uncertainty and curiosity-he wanted his answer, but at the same time, he didn't. _

_"We are your family," the priest responded. _

_The boy scowled, but the look in his eye remained. "I know you are. But I want my other family, too. My natural family. You teach that our most Godly gave us all a family in order to learn what is wrong with the world we live in, to teach us the ways of His shadows. I know I have one. Where are they? Where is he? My…" He swallowed dryly, not knowing how to say the next term and simply gliding over it instead with a sigh. "Where is my family?" _

_The priest shook his head. "The location of your family is unimportant. It's the location of our holy Lord in your soul that is what matters, Naito." _

_Naito fisted his small hands, biting his bottom lip. "Does he not want me? Is this what you are trying to avoid telling me, oh great leader? Did he leave me here because he thinks of me as a burden because I am not yet touched by the great God?" He knelt down. "O, tell me, o great leader; tell me what I have to do to be touched by the great God and earn my family's attention and to remove the burden I place upon him. Tell me how I can remove my burden and give myself over to our Lord."_

_The priest sighed, and held out the long blade he had lying on the ground. "Naito. You know exactly what it is that must be done." _

_Naito looked up, violet eyes wide. Trembling, he got to his feet, walking up to the priest and sitting beside him, taking the blade into his hands. He looked down at the trembling, bloody, nude woman staring up at the two of them with eyes wide, the ties on her body being the only thing that prevented her from running. _

_"She is our great God's sacrifice this evening, Naito. If you want to release the burden, give yourself to our God by devoting yourself to carrying out His holiest mission." _

_Naito shivered with excitement. "Only the best get this privilege," he whispered, running his fingertips down the woman's bare body. "Is she… virginal, your holiness?" _

_"Indeed. She was even going to become a whore. Our men found her first." _

_Naito chuckled. "Do you hear that, miss? We saved you from the disgust that is mankind," he whispered excitedly, violet eyes wide as he ran the blade along his finger, cutting through the skin. He pressed his bloody fingertip to her chest, just above her bosom, and drew his God's symbol in his blood, right above her quickly-beating heart. "We gave you a most divine purpose. We shall release you from the mortal bonding and send you to the eternal with our great One, where you shall become a servant for the most divine of beings. It is a rich right you are to receive." Not one he was jealous of, admittedly, but one he was excited to aid her in going to. He sat back on his heels, looking over at the priest. Nodding, he raised the blade over his head, smile wide. "In the name of our good Lord, I release you from your human-hood. In the name of the great Lord, I accept this good kill I shall receive." _

_He relished in the feeling of the blade puncturing her chest plate, breaking it easily and running through her beating heart. Watching her face contort with pain and suffering gave him a release that was so blinding that he was sure it felt better than orgasm. It was such an amazing feeling, especially when he tightened his grip on the blade and could feel the final moment's of the women's life in her slow, dragged-out heartbeats. He held in the blade for as long as he could, waiting for that last, weak pump. When it happened, a feeling of pride and relief washed over him, happy that his Lord permitted him his first good kill. He pulled the blade out of the woman's chest, watching the blood drip out of the cavity he created, and wiped some of the blood off of the blade. "And now I swallow the blood, oh Great?" he whispered to the priest. _

_"Yes," came the simple reply, which was added to with, "And utter our Lord's name in realization of whom allowed this kill, and who gave it to you." _

_Naito nodded, raising his bloody fingertip to his mouth and looking up at the symbol of his Lord where it was carved into the stone of the wall. The upside-down triangle had provided such a comfort in his younger years, and it still did. "In the name of the Great and Holy Jashin," he whispered, "I accept the good kill that has been given to me. May this sacrifice be ever yours." He closed his eyes as he pushed the bloodied fingertip into his mouth, ingesting the blood of the woman in the name of the Great and Holy Jashin. _

Naito's eyes snapped open, his lips tingling at the memory. He remembered the exact taste of the blood—it seemed to always hang off of his tongue. It was a shame he couldn't taste it again—the brothers of Jashin had to also ingest the blood, too, in order to get the goodwill of a virginal kill. It was the only way that their cause would ever be supported by Jashin, too. It had been such a good kill. Not his best kill, but his favorite one. Then again, the best kill was always the most favored kill. It was the first realization that Jashin was watching over a person in that first kill; all important in the lives of his brothers of belief.

"Ah, so you're awake, are you?" Naito's violet eyes rolled lazily in the direction of the speaker, recognizing the heavily scarred man from earlier-the one who tortured like a little bitch. Naito rolled his shoulders, slowly opening and closing his eyes. He wasn't tired but he did enjoy pissing the annoying little fucker off. Naito opened his mouth and yawned as loudly as possible, tilting his head back until his gaze touched the ceiling.

"I dreamed about my first virgin thanks to your 'torture', _Minikuku Seikō_," he sighed longingly, rolling his shoulders as if he'd gotten a good fuck. "Fucking thanks, man. It was a nice dream."

"First… virgin?" Naito tore his eyes away from the ceiling, looking at a man much younger-looking than the scarred man before him, who seemed terrified to even be in the same room. Next to him stood a more calm, collected one—one with a pissed-off gaze and a ponytail—but he wasn't so interesting as the pussy they'd let into the room.

"He's referring to his first virginal sacrifice," sighed the ponytail-haired one in an irritated voice. "In his religion, their right-of-passage is to sacrifice a virgin to their god, Jashin. They're a cult."

Naito raised an eyebrow. "You're not the first to call us a fucking cult, but you're the first to know the customs. Have you done your research on our holy cause? Or have you experienced our Lord's judgments first-hand?"

"Little bit of both, if you consider one of your whack jobs trying to kill me to be a judgment from a so-called god," said the man.

Naito chuckled. "Our God's judgments all come through His disciples. We are His vessels from this world to the next. We save the human race from itself. Death is the only release from the sins that are created by a bastard who does not believe in our Lord's great mission." He rolled his shoulders again. "A good kill is all the release we of our good Lord need for the sins that must be made for the pleasing of our Lord."

"I notice how you avoid saying 'His' name," said the scarred one, drawing his attention.

Naito blinked. "I am fucking _lowly._ His name is too good for my lips, lest I thank Him for the good kill I've been fortunate to receive. He is my Lord and God, but His fucking _name_ should never be uttered by a lowly bastard such as me."

The scarred one sighed. "You're devout, aren't you? Were you raised in a Jashinist temple… Naito?"

"But of course. The devout must live in the temple for years. It is a requirement and a test to prove our faith to our good Lord," Naito said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not gonna fucking tell you where this temple is. Heathens such as you don't get to enter such a holy place, unless you want to gift us with a good kill."

The scarred one nodded and turned to the scared shinobi. "Leave. Shikamaru and I can handle this completely on our own. You're useless in this case."

The scared one looked at the scarred one. "I apologize, Ibiki-sama."

"Don't apologize. If I haven't been through the things I've been through, I would be like you right now. Fortunately, I have, and so has Shikamaru. We are more than enough for this boy. Leave." The scared shinobi bowed to the disfigured man—Ibiki—and opened the door, giving Naito a brief look at the facility he was in before the door closed once more, locking him in with the pony-tail wearer, Shikamaru, and the torturer, Ibiki. If he could get out of his handcuffs, this would be so _interesting_. Ibiki turned back to him, threading his fingers together as he sat down on the edge of the metal table in the middle of the room, while Shikamaru took the chair across from him.

"Now, knowing the location of your temple is the last thing on my mind. Your backwards faith is not something I have any interest in taking down—your men tend to keep out of our way, since you have no care for monetary values," Ibiki said, and Naito nodded in agreement. Money was a thing of man. A thing of man held no value for a person whose value was in their god. "My concern has one name. I think you know it."

"Yakushi Kabuto." The bastard who'd taken his blade. Just the thought of his holy weapon was enough to have his face contort with anger and a need to kill. He hated Kabuto—_hated_ him—but he knew that if he told these men everything about him (where he was, who he was working with, et cetera et cetera) he would have no choice but to let them take him when the time came. Kabuto was _his_ kill—no one else's. "I'm sorry, but I have no fucking idea where he was located. I was under genjutsu."

"A lie, but I lack the proof to truly be able to say it," said Shikamaru, sighing and propping his feet up on the table. "Naito, correct?"

"That's correct, fuck-face," Naito replied in a sickeningly polite voice.

Shikamaru shrugged him off, pulling out a red pack of cigarettes from his pocket and shaking out one cigarette, placing it between his lips and lighting up, ignoring the dirty look Ibiki gave him. Naito raised one eyebrow, staring at the curious man across from him. "Your file says that you're thirteen years old, yet you've already killed a recorded ninety-eight men and women in the past two years."

"Only ninety-eight? I am not doing very well, am I, fuck-face?"

"Apparently not. After all, one of the cult's followers was killing about two hundred people a year, according to his records," said Shikamaru, making Naito's heart stop momentarily in his chest. He knew he was watching his reaction, but he couldn't help it. He was a good follower of Jashin, but no one—absolutely no one—could measure up to the man that Shikamaru was currently referring to. "I see you know who I'm talking about. You've met him?"

"In passing," lied Naito, doing his best to suppress the urge to pull against the bonding holding him to the chair. His heart, as quickly as it stopped, sped up, kicking his chest's ass. He was excited. He wanted to know exactly how Shikamaru knew, and he wanted to know _now_. He leaned forwards as far as he could, trying to get closer to the table. "Do you know where that son-of-a-bitch is hiding out?" he hissed.

"Hn," responded Shikamaru, taking another long drag of the cigarette. "I might. But, tell me, what would I get out of you for giving you his location? Not that you could do anything about it, but…"

Naito resisted the urge to grind his jaw. "But you know where he is. Just fucking tell me, and I'll spare you and this scarred fuck here. I'll bring no harm to anyone in this village, not even the virgins."

Shikamaru sighed. "I could tell you, but I want something _better_ than what you're offering me. Much better." Shikamaru placed his arms on the table and offered his cigarette to Ibiki, which he appreciatively took. "I want all the information your tiny little mind could possibly know about Kabuto."

Naito coughed a dry laugh. "You're high on something, ain't you, fuck-face?" he asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Not high. Also not a fuck-face." He stood up, pushing away from the table. "I think we're done for today, don't you think, Ibiki?"

The scarred one nodded, taking a drag of the death stick. "I'm in agreement with you."

"Wha-what?!" snapped Naito, furious. "What the fuck are you talking about, you fucking bastard?! Tell me where the fuck he is, right now!"

"Until you agree to my terms, no," said Shikamaru with a sigh that sounded something like 'how troublesome'. "No amount of threatening me will change my mind, either. The cards are not in your favor. You're locked up in a maximum-security facility with possibly the most dangerous men and women Konoha has to offer; with the ANBU operatives not even a stone's throw away. In addition, I can find Kabuto by myself, if I wanted. What you want, you can't find without my help, and I am the only one who can help you to find him. Basically" —he walked slowly back over to Naito until he towered over the young teenager, his breath stinking of cigarettes, his eyes showing no emotions whatsoever—"You have no authority. You have no say. You're already bent over. Soon, you'll realize that you have been fucked. And, when you do, I expect my answers, and _then_ I'll pull out and I'll let you pick up your pants. Got me?"

Naito's eyes widened in surprise, too shocked at the phrasing of Shikamaru's statement. Shikamaru took his lack of response as an understanding on his part, and he nodded, pushing away from him.

"I'll be back tomorrow, Naito, at the same time. I'll repeat this until I get my answers. We'll have this nice little _fucking_ session until you realize who is in control here," said Shikamaru, pulling out his pack of cigarettes and pulling out a fresh one as he scratched his ass. "How troublesome, Jashinists are," he said as he passed Ibiki through the door his subordinates just unlocked from the outside, nodding at him.

Ibiki locked the door behind himself, looking at Shikamaru. "You have to come work for me," he said as soon as the door was closed. Shikamaru snorted, looking at Naito through the one-way glass. "I'm serious. You would be a great interrogator. It beats testing kids on the basics of senjutsu all fucking day."

Shikamaru took a drag. "Nah. It's too troublesome to keep up the routine of the hard-ass all the time. Not that I can't do it, but I'd much rather sit on my ass in my office and shoot the shit with Neji, Chōji, Ino, or Suigetsu, when they have the time, and pick up my son from daycare." He flicked a glance at Ibiki. "That aside, this kid is a Jashinist. They're already fucked-up folk; but they don't spill information about their targets so easy—which, considering this kid's reaction to Kabuto even being vaguely mentioned, he most definitely is a target. His own murderous desires are mixed in what he believes to be his god's, so pulling this card makes for a selfish desire on his part. The last thing he wants is to forsake his god, so getting him to agree to our terms will take a good couple of weeks or so. I wouldn't get so ready to get every drop of detail out of him just yet."

"But you think he will?" asked Ibiki—not uncertain, just curious to get Shikamaru's take on the subject. Everyone cracked, it was just a matter of when and how (a fact he was assured of), and he simply wanted to know how Shikamaru thought about it.

His light brown eyes flicked over to Ibiki's face. "Of course he'll crack, Ibiki. He's a thirteen-year-old kid. What thirteen-year-old, despite how murderous and devout he may be for his backwards god, will forsake he finding of their own brother, despite the fact that he left him at a fucking Jashinist temple since he was brat, especially judging by the fact that he was particularly interested at the mention of the possibility of getting back his brother."

"_Will_ you give him back his brother?"

Shikamaru scowled. "Not if I can help it. That son of a bitch needs to stay exactly where the hell he is. I don't want him out and about. I want him to stay _exactly_ where I fucking left him. That's what I decided for the good of the entire world, and for Asuma's memory." Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest, irritated. "I'll make my empty promises, I'll get my answers, and then I'll figure out why he left him at that temple."

Ibiki frowned. "What? You're fixated on the temple, with everything else going on? Why?"

Shikamaru blinked and looked over at Ibiki. "You've seen the brother's file. He doesn't have many assets, but the assets he had, he kept close to him. If he had a little brother, why would he dare to leave him at a temple that he never seemed to visit, based on Naito's reactions to the prospect of me knowing where he is and he didn't. I want to find out why he would be ditched and left in the hands of a Jashinistic temple, considering he didn't want to stay with it himself." Shikamaru sighed. "I'd like to utilize the information archives you and Jiraiya set up-and I know you two set up information archives. I need to see them, and I need to figure out why someone like Hidan would leave his little brother alone. Psycho or not, his little brother is an asset, and an asset to a killer is not something easily ditched."

Ibiki sighed. "Fine. Fine, you have access. But you need a group working on this case with you, understood? I want this to be a teamed venture if you're looking for two sets of completely different information." Shikamaru smirked, and Ibiki blinked and promptly sighed. "You've already got a team in mind, don't you?"

Shikamaru chuckled and turned on the balls of his feet, padding down the hall, his sandals making no sounds. "If you can fetch me Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Inoichi, my cousin Obito, and my father, that'd be great. I'll be in your office, reading some files."

Ibiki sighed and rubbed his hands together excitedly, acting as if he were a child and had spotted a shiny new toy. "Oh, I _need_ this asshole in this division," he said with a smirk.

* * *

"Can we's stay up and play more, _Oji~_?" asked Soyokaze sweetly, clasping his hands together tightly, his eyes wide. Kankurō smirked and rubbed the top of his nephew's head as he picked him up.

"No."

Soyokaze frowned. "Puh-_lease_?" he whined, making Hinata giggle.

"No."

He was on the verge of tears. "_Why_, Oji?"

"Because, if you don't go to bed before your Okāsan comes home, and she sees you're still up, she'll kill me, and I won't be able to play with you tomorrow before you go to daycare," said Kankurō, poking at Soyokaze's puffy little cheek. "Now lighten up, kiddo. Sleeping makes you big and strong, like your Otōsan, and like your Gaar-Oji, and like your Okāsan, your Obāsan, and your Ojīsan…"

"And like Nata-Oba and Kanky-Oji?" asked Soyokaze, perking up.

"_Especially_ like _me_." He tugged at Soyokaze's cheek and then put him down. "Go. I'll be there in a minute to tuck you in." Soyokaze blushed, rubbing his sore cheek, and shook his head. Kankurō raised an eyebrow. "No? Who'll tuck you in if I don't do it, eh, kiddo?"

"I'S GOTS IT!" he said excitedly, "I's a big boy, Oji! I's tuck myself in, Oji! You can go to bed with Nata-Oba!" Hinata blushed, and Kankurō suddenly looked mischievous, looking at Hinata up and down, like he was undressing her with his eyes. She shivered and sat on the arm of the sofa, her legs quivering. _Dammit, Soyo, why would you give __**that**__ man a suggestion like that?!_

He watched him go, arms crossing over his chest as he slowly made his way over to Hinata. As soon as they heard the door shut shut, he whirled her around, pulling her into his arms and slamming his lips against hers.

"God, wanted to do that _all day_," he whispered as she gasped, allowing him to plunge his tongue into her mouth. He picked her up, grabbing her by her thigh, his warmth searing as he walked the both of them to the bedroom he hadn't been using for sleeping. He dropped her onto the bed, his eyes filled with lust as he pulled off his shirt, wiping his face paint off with it.

"Y-You weren't enjoying spending time with Kaze-kun?" she whispered as Kankurō positioned himself above her, craning his face forwards to lick and kiss at her neck.

"Of course I did. The kid's _awesome_. The best kid I know. Hayato's a close second to him. Then it was little Hanabi—you know; _before_ all the PMS and the suitors and the girl shit she got into." Hinata giggled—Hanabi, like all girls, had a phase where she simply couldn't step out without makeup. It was the most irritating five months she could've spent living with her.

"So… you like… kids…" she panted out as he began to get a little rougher with his nipping.

"Uh… some kids. I guess. I liked Hanabi, and I liked her teammates well enough, though I'm not sure they can still be considered kids anymore. And I like Hayato. And Soyo… he's the bomb. Don't know if I can tolerate any other kids, though your sensei's kid is nice… oh, and Baki-sensei is adopting some kids, did you know that?"

"Uhmm… I do now… _ah, RIGHT THERE, mm-hm_," she said, knowing her words were ending up at a moan rather than the sentence it had begun as. He smirked and nipped at the spot again, listening to his fiancé's wish. "Ah… but… can you…_mmmmm, more, there_… can you see…_ah_… with your own kids, K-Kur_OOOH, there, right there…_" He frowned now, ignoring his and Hinata's needs as he sat up, making her gasp in disappointment. "W-Wha… Kurō… w-why did you…"

"Why are you drilling me about kids, hime?" he sighed, moving off of her, sitting down on the bed. She blinked in surprise, and his frown deepened. "I'm not stupid, love. I know when you're trying to get information out of me. My question is, what's so damned important about kids that you're doing it during sexy-time?" She would've giggled at the term just utilized if he weren't so serious. "You're not one to drill me for information using sex, so why now, and why is the subject… kids?"

She sighed and sat up, knowing her hair was probably a mess. She pushed her fingers together, looking down at them. "I'm just… I'm making sure that… that…" She swallowed. "Can't we just have sex?"

"Well, that's what I wanted, but you drilled me on kids. So, why?" He swallowed dryly, eyes widening. "Oh, for the love of God, Hina, please don't tell me you're pregnant right now!"

She flinched. "No!" she gasped, biting her lip and catching herself. "Wait… so… you don't want children with me, Kurō?"

He blinked. "That's not what I meant. And before you use some twisted woman logic—"

She raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. "Twisted woman logic?"

"Yes, twisted woman logic. Anyways, as I was saying, before you use it, is that I _don't _want kids… now. Not before we're married. It isn't that I'm saying that it's not possible for us now, but I'd like the possibility of having children after we're married. If we do it before then, I'm not guaranteed to have possession of my balls; your dad might rip them off in a moment of furious anger and grind them up like coffee beans." Kankurō rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I _do_ want kids someday, though, Hina-hime. Why _wouldn't_ I want kids with you? You're such an amazing woman, and I'd love any little brat we'd make. And we'd make an attractive little brat, you know."

Hinata blushed, biting her lip. "S-So… we… _kids_?"

He nodded, smiling and moving closer to Hinata, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. "Yes." He kissed her. "Kids. You and I are having a few rugrats." He kissed her again. "_Someday_. Not today, not tomorrow, but definitely _someday_. Can you wait for someday, Hinata?"

She smiled and nodded excitedly. "Yes. Yes, at long as it will happen." Blushing, she pulled her shirt up and over her head, showing her bra off to her fiancé. He smirked and automatically raised a hand to her right breast, giving it a squeeze. "Can we make completely safe, protected love right now? Make sure we have the… the _technique_ down pat?"

His smirk became a full-blown smile as he pulled her in for another kiss.

"God, I fucking love you."

He pulled her onto his lap, ripping off her bra in laziness and excitement. She gasped, and he captured her lips with a tongued kiss. "Sorry. I'll buy you a new one, love." She gave a whining breath—something she didn't do around anyone else—which only he knew how to cut off, which he did, quickly, by leaving her lips and bringing his lips to her nipple, surrounding the hardened nub with his warm lips and even warmer tongue. She gasped out, running her hands through his hair, tangling her fingers in the brown locks.

She began to grind against him, his hardened length and her wet warmth separated by their pants. He groaned, lightly biting her nipple and making her arch. She had slowly become more confident when it came to love-making over the years, and although she'd never be a demon in bed, she was more than enough for him sometimes, and he relished in the fact that he was the only person who would ever get to see her like this, the only person who could ever make her remotely like this. He was the only person who could even remotely excite her.

He changed their positions, throwing her down onto the bed underneath him, kissing down her body as his hands grabbed her pants. The only reason he stopped kissing her was because he had finally gotten a hold on the fabric, and was currently in the process of almost literally ripping it off of her slim body. She did her best to help him, which was more than enough.

As soon as the blue pants were off of her, he did, actually, rip the panties off of her womanhood, too impatient for anything more. He was quick in pulling off his own pants, fumbling with his drawers as she kissed his back, managing to find a condom without too much trouble. When she nibbled on his ear, he almost said 'fuck it' to the condom. Luckily, his love for his scrotum reminded him of the need for the rubber, and he ripped the packet open with his teeth, rolling it onto his length without any major hiccups (thank _God_ he was over that fumbling-with-condoms phase of the sexual aspect of their relationship).

He was back over her in a moment, and not wasting time in plunging into her. She gasped, her entire body shaking the moment that she felt his hardened length slide into her body, her legs wrapping right around his waist, her hands tangling themselves in his brown locks. He smirked as he thrust into her, fast and hard, making her moans hotter than before.

He tangled his own fingers into the locks that fanned out behind her head on the pillow, his lips latching onto a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. He felt her hardened nipples brushing against his chest with every rough thrust, and her lips fused onto his shoulder, her nails biting into the toughened skin of his broad, scarred back. He still couldn't get over the fact that she didn't mind one damned scar on his body. He knew that they were hideous, but she kissed them, she fawned over them, she showed them her love as if they were all separate beings. She knew what they were from, and she loved him more for getting through it instead of hating the world.

Just the thought of how much she loved him had him thrusting harder, and he groaned at the sound of their lovemaking, relishing at the feeling of their hips constantly touching every time he thrust. She felt so amazing around him—still so tight, so wet, so warm, and just so _damned good_—and he began to lose himself in the sensations, murmuring her name straight into her ear as he upped the pace more, forcing her to attempt to smother her moans in order to avoid waking Soyokaze up.

He felt the most incredible rush when he found his climax only a few thrusts after she found her own, biting—_hard_—into her shoulder as he kept himself pressed as far as he could into her, riding out the orgasm for as long as he could. He managed to avoid collapsing on top of her, thankfully, and brought himself onto his elbows, looking down at the Hyūga beneath him. She looked up at him with half-lidded pale lavender eyes, her lips swollen from their kisses and her neck and shoulders dotted with fresh hickeys—and one actually violent bite mark. Sheepish, he gently pulled out of her, picking up her shirt from where it had fallen onto the ground, pressing it against the wound he'd caused. "Sorry. I usually bite the pillow."

She smiled tiredly and happily at him, and put a hand onto his cheek. "It's fine. Your back is bleeding, so I guess we're even."

He frowned. "I'm… bleeding?" Well, now that she mentioned it, his shoulders and mid back did feel a little painful. He sighed and shrugged. "Okay, maybe slightly violent parents sometimes—"

She blushed. "I was thinking we're a little too… horny."

"Yeah, okay, horny violent parents, but we'll be damned _good_ horny violent parents, and we'll have amazing children one day. I _will_ put a baby in your belly one day, hime. We will have a beautiful, perfect baby someday, I swear," he said with a smile as he allowed his hand to drift down to her abdominal area while the other slipped off the used condom, tossing it carelessly on top of his strewn clothing. "A beautiful baby who'll inherit their own clan and have a Kazekage uncle and a Nara heir cousin someday."

"And a Hatake godfather," she whispered, smiling at the thought as Kankurō lay down on the bed beside her on his side, his hand still on top of her currently un-pregnant womb. "And his name will be Jūgo. We'll have a beautiful baby boy named Jūgo." She turned on her side, smiling at him. Even so many years later, she was still thankful to Jūgo—if it hadn't been for him, the Allied Forces would've never figured out what they were fighting against. He'd changed the outlook of the entire war, and he'd given her hope when she'd felt none. He was such a good person, and she was sad that he was no longer alive. She blinked, realizing what she'd said— she'd completely pushed him out of the process of naming their child. "C-Can we name our baby Jūgo?"

He smiled. "If they're a boy. If they're a girl… I wanna name her Karura. If we're lucky, we'll have two kids—one of each."

"My family is known for identical twins. My grandfather's father was one, too. So… maybe two boys, maybe two girls… if that's the case, then a third child might be in order." She squealed and put her face against his chest. "What am I doing? We're not having kids yet, and I'm already making decisions?! What is _wrong _with me?" she half-yelled against his chest. He chuckled and moved closer into her, kissing the top of her head.

"Don't stop. I like this conversation. I like thinking about it. I love that you like thinking about it. I love you, Hinata, I love you so damned much, and I can't wait to be married to you, and to make this conversation into a reality." He kissed her head again. "I love you."

He could feel her smile against the still-sensitive skin of his chest.

"I love you, too."

* * *

The woods were quiet and dark at this time of night, but Shikamaru walked through them as if it were not eerie, as if it were not creepy. The Nara forests were not something he thought should be feared, as someone who'd spent many days and nights of his childhood beside his father in the woods, helping him tend to the clan deer. Shikamaru was more than used to the sounds it made at night, more than used to the hoots of owls or the howling of wolves, used to the sounds of something moving in the brush.

There was a legend he'd heard once that before the Nara clan came to Hidden Leaf, from the Hidden Whirlpool, that these woods he now treaded carefully in belonged to the Hatake clan, who got their name in this world for being the only clan to tame wolves without the use of a kekkei genkai or some sort of drug. The Nara had blindly brought their herd of deer to this forest, not knowing of the existence of these wolves, and found themselves losing deer by the day to them. The Hatake had approached them and told them about their encroachment on Hatake lands. Surprisingly, instead of forcing them out of the woods, the wolf-clan offered them a truce. They would allow the Nara deer-herd to inhabit the woods as so long as they give the Hatake wolf-pack a deer every other month, the second Sunday of the month. The Nara readily agreed.

Shikamaru didn't believe it until he was eleven, when his father brought him along on one of these trips. The wolves were huge, too huge for them to possibly be regular wolves in Shikamaru's opinion, and surprisingly enough, Kakashi was with them, his usual Icha-Icha in his hands. He regarded Shikamaru carelessly, knowing that Shikamaru was confused and scared and simply not caring. They gave the deer to the pack, and Shikaku forced Shikamaru to his knees in the middle of the clearing, watching as the wolves surrounded his son, watching as one bit into Shikamaru's upper arm, not hard enough to really hurt him, but hard enough to draw some blood.

The bite (the mark from which he still had to that day and he knew he would always have it; it was like a seal or a tattoo) was to make sure that he would be recognized by the wolves whenever it was time for the sacrificial night, and it would also grant him protection from the wolves, allowing him to call on them if need be. As so far, he'd never found a need to use it. Most Nara clansmen with the mark didn't. They could all handle themselves just fine, and they were unworried about dying on a mission—it was a fact of life when being a shinobi.

He roped the deer around the neck—an older one on the last dregs of his life—and handed off the end to Obito, who took it without any sort of complaint. Shikamaru knew he was confused and unsure about what was going on—he would be too, if he were Obito. He'd been walking down the streets with Hanabi, apparently, when he'd been caught by some Chūnin and forced to come to T&I, only to almost immediately run back out with Shikamaru, Inoichi and Shikaku, none of them supplying any answers to his silent questions.

Shikamaru quickly made the tiger seal before he returned his hands back to their sides, nodding at his father who motioned for Obito to lead the deer. The deer had no problems whatsoever with following Obito; the herd was familiar with the adopted Nara boy and didn't appear to be worried, unlike Obito. He was rarely in the forest at this time of night, and while the sounds weren't exactly scary to him, he was more worried by the lack of explanation, reason, or conversation by any of the three he was with. He hated being left in the dark, he hated being confused, and he hated being worried when they weren't. Why couldn't they just tell him what they were—?

The sound of growling pulled him out of his thoughts. He blinked, not realizing he'd gone on autopilot while walking, and found himself surprised to find them basically surrounded by a pack of incredibly large wolves (wolves that, at first, he had assumed had to be some breed of small bear). He resisted the urge to tense up, seeing that none of his three companions seemed worried. A wolf with bright, expressive yellow eyes and pale fur stepped forwards, padding carefully and lethally as it made its way over to the four shinobi, particularly Obito.

It narrowed its eyes at him, moving close and sniffing at him, forcing Obito to hold his breath, half-expecting it to attack. Inoichi moved forwards, touching his hand to the top of the wolf's head, his eyes tightly shut. "He asks why you've come, Shikaku."

"We know it's not the date," said Shikaku with a rough voice, nodding as he continued, "But we have a request to make of the pack, Kiiromaru."

Kiiromaru, apparently the wolf, nodded, and Inoichi said, "He asks if it's about the one you buried, Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, it's about him. I'd like to make sure he's still there, and I'd like to see to it that your pack keeps him there, until I see it fit to bring him out, however long that may be," Shikamaru said.

Kiiromaru gave a rumbling that sounded like a chuckle. "He asks if Kakashi knows you're here right now."

"Of course he doesn't. He's on a mission. But you know that already; that's why _you_ can't talk to us right now—it's why we've brought proxy," Shikamaru said, pointing over to Inoichi. Kiiromaru nodded before returning his attention to Obito, sniffing him up and down again.

"He asks why you've brought an outsider. One who stinks of blood, Senju, and Uchiha," said Inoichi.

Shikaku said, "His name is Obito. He's a Nara clansman."

"He says he doesn't smell like it."

Shikamaru replied, "His father is Uchiha Shisui, his mother a Senju, like my mother. He's of both clans, but the Nara is the one who has inducted him. He's one of us."

"He says he smells like danger. He says he smells kindness, as well, but predominantly danger."

"I apologize for making you worried with my presence," Obito said softly, "I don't mean to."

Kiiromaru cocked his head slightly. "He says he's meeker than expected. He says he senses danger, but his packmembers sense kindness in his heart. He concurs with these sentiments. He says that he finds you to be an interesting soul. He says you have an old soul, but you appear so young. He asks how old you are."

"Seventeen."

Kiiromaru made a rumbling sound. "He says he is old for you to be bringing him to them for protection. Not too old, but old enough for him to wonder why you've waited so long to approach the pack for protection. He asks you why that is."

"We weren't sure you would do it. He's not Nara by blood, like you've pointed out. But I think he needs it now, more than ever. Can you do this for us, Kiiromaru?"

Kiiromaru rumbled. "He says without Kakashi, no. He says the packmaster needs his bonded one to perform the ceremony. He says to bring him back on the day of sacrifice; Kakashi should be back by then. He says that he can bring you to see the one you buried years ago tonight, and that the pack will honor your wishes. He swears it on the name Hatake."

Shikamaru nodded. "That's all I can ask for. Thank you, packmaster."

Kiiromaru nodded again, and turned his eyes back to Obito. Inoichi said, "He says you are interesting. He says that you would have been great under the name of Hatake, if you were a member of this pack. He says that there is something both great and dangerous lined out for you. He wonders if you're prepared for something like it. He asks you if you are."

"I wouldn't know. It hasn't happened yet. I can't be prepared for what I know nothing about. I'm only human."

His eyes widened slightly, and then the wolf cackled—actually _cackled_. "He says that he likes your answer. He says you sound like a man Kakashi brought for protection with his old team. He says you sound like Namikaze Minato."

* * *

_**So let me start this by apologizing for the lack of SasuKiba in this chapter of the story... hopefully I made up for it with the HinaKank lemon, though! **_

_**Anywho, from the three reviews I got, I assume you guys want a lemon for SasuKiba. Well, that will take more time, a lot in the story has to happen before a lemon. But I will put a lime in, most definitely. **_

_**I have decided not to change the name of the story. It's not because I got enough reviews to tell me not to**__**—**__**I didn't, not in my opinion. No, the reason I'm not changing it is because one of my friends in my regular day-to-day life threatened to stab me in the eye with a Philips screwdriver if I dared to change the name, and I honestly don't put it past her to do it. For the love of my eye (like Kankuro's love for his scrotum), I'm keeping the name. **_

_**I got over my bout of semi-writer's block and finally finished with the writing of chapter 28. Currently halfway through chapter 29... these chapters I'm writing are VERY interesting, if I do say so myself. Everything is put on the line... that's all I'm saying. **_

_**I got so happy when I got through the writing of chapter 28, though. When I finished, I screamed, "I'm halfway done!" **_

_**My father (whom I don't let read any of my works because I'd hate to see that my parents, of all people hate my stories which I love with all my heart) asked me, "You've been typing all summer. How do you know you're halfway done now? How were you not halfway done before?"**_

_**My response was quite simple, I believe. I said, "Well, it's easy. Half my ideas are gone." **_

_**Okay, I got sidetracked xD My apologies. Time to thank reviewers! **_

_**To **__**sailorangelmoon1**__**: yay, I did my job if it was hot! I really do doubt sometimes that I do have the capability to convey things (such as hotness). Heehee, I hope the beginning (and end) made you happy... lots of Obito! Okay, no Sasuke and no Kiba, but there's Obito! And a HinaKank lemon! That almost makes up with the lack of KibaSasu/SasuKiba right? Lol xP **_

_**To **__**leesa323**__**: well, I just had to involve Shikamaru. But since everything's more complex than the norm, I'm afraid that finding out what's going on will take a few chapters (spoiler: 3-4 weeks in their timeline) but he will be figuring them out with that superbrain of his! :D **_

_**To **__**artforlife**__**: not a lemon yet. Not even after chapter 28. Probably, honestly, towards the end of the story. But lime? Definitively. And after chapter 30 or so for sure. And... I was teasing? Lmao, I truly had no idea that I did that xP To be honest, any flirting that I have these people do is completely ON ACCIDENT. I know love when I see it, and I adore romance and all that stuff, but I write the way I am: romantically stupid (at least, with my own love life). But it makes me glad to see that no, I'm not completely and utterly stupid! xD **_

_**I hope you guys enjoyed! Sorry for the overly long author's note! And I apologize to any readers of "The Ripple Effect" - I had ZERO motivation to write the next chapter, but I am hashing out its finer points with this friend of mine I have in my major (who adores anime and reads more FanFics than I do, though its mostly Harry Potter) about what'll happen. If I can get an idea onto paper and get it out, I will try to get the chapter done before the end of this month! But I do have to focus on my schoolwork, so please be patient!**_

_**Again, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! **_


	19. Chapter 18: Estimation

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**_

* * *

_ESTIMATION_

_/,estə'māSHən/_

_a rough calculation of the value, number, quantity, or extend of something; a judgment of the worth or character of someone or something._

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was still a virgin.

It wasn't a fact he pledged publicly, the fact that he had yet to engage in sexual relations with someone. Even Shino had sex with someone—who with, he didn't know, but Sasuke had informed him that Shino really did have a girlfriend. Naruto had been spending a primary portion of his time trying to help Obito figure out his shit, and he hadn't really tried to get his own romantic life going, so he was alone, and still a sorry little masturbating virgin. If he didn't live in the village he did, or have the friends he had, he wouldn't have minded so much, but considering that most shinobi in Konoha lost their virginities around their teen years and didn't hesitate to get into relationships, he felt like an oddball.

That didn't mean to say that he was only focused upon getting with a person sexually. Yes, it would be nice, but he was more focused on finding a person who will love him rather than one who would simply have sex with him. He'd never been a guy who really wanted that 'hit once and done' kind of relationship. He wanted a _real_ one; one where he'd wake up next to someone and ask himself how he'd ever managed to live without them. He would admit it, he was a sorry romantic. But he couldn't help himself—he saw all of his friends all happy and in love and so of course he would want the same thing for himself. He always had though for a long time he had imagined it to be _Sakura_ who he was with.

He'd tried with her, once. They had one date about six months before everything happened. It nearly ended with him losing his virginity, too, but… when she stood in front of him, naked and waiting, he could see something: while she was willing to let him take her sexually, she didn't love him. She didn't want him. She would _never_ want him. Upon that realization, all romantic ideas he had about her almost immediately faded. He couldn't force himself to love someone who would never love him back, and so he'd changed the love—it became that of a sibling's love, which she did reciprocate without much problem.

Maybe he should've been mad at himself for not forcing his feelings, but he couldn't be. He couldn't do things that made him unhappier than he already was. He was a firm believer in doing what made him happy, due to the fact that a large majority of his life was focused on making him unhappy. He had always wanted to fight against his unhappiness, and so he only did what would refuse letting unhappiness and loneliness take over.

Of course, loneliness and unhappiness were kicking his ass right now, and it was because he hadn't managed to find _that girl_ anywhere! He'd spent that entire day running around the village, even managing to try and to catch his ANBU mark without much difficultly while trying to run into that girl again. That night, he'd gone to sleep thinking about her. He hadn't even done that with Sakura!

He was thinking about that girl all day long, and it was bothering him. Maybe it was because she had refused to give him her name, or maybe it was because she was supposed to ask him out on a date. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew her already, but he figured it didn't matter. He didn't know why. But he did know that he was incredibly anxious to see her again.

"Naruto? What are you doing?"

The Uzumaki flinched, looking up from his shot glass and into the familiar brown depths of Umino Iruka's eyes. He instantly smiled at his former sensei, though it was less of his usual shit-eating smile and more of his I'm-nearly-drunk-and-lonely-so-please-spend-time-w ith-pitiful-ole-me smile, which he had developed during his travels. He picked up the half-empty bottle of whiskey he had and took a long drink, making Iruka's eyes widen. Though, when he pulled it away, he coughed and gagged, making Iruka sigh and slip into the barstool beside his former student.

"Naruto, it's late. Why aren't you home yet?" asked Iruka gently, rubbing Naruto's shoulder. It was more than definitely reassuring, the rubbing. Naruto sniffled and took a short sip this time.

"Am I unlovable, Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto with a whine heard in his throat, drink-clouded ocean blue eyes looking into Iruka's chocolate depths. "Am I meant to be alone _forever_?"

Iruka swallowed. "Naruto, are you having problems with your love life?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

It wasn't that Iruka doubted Naruto could have romantic problems, but it was just that… Naruto and romance was never truly something he'd ever thought about. Naruto was an oblivious person when it came to… well, everything, but especially his love life (judging by the fact that Hinata had a crush on him for so long before she fell for Sabaku nō Kankurō), so Iruka had made peace with the idea that a romantic life wasn't something Naruto would ever truly be worried about, at least to this extent. But, alas, here he was, drinking himself stupid over it.

Naruto nodded, swallowing his drink and looking over at Iruka, as if trying to size up the Academy teacher before sighing, "There's this girl."

Iruka raised an eyebrow at the cheesy line heard in most romantic comedies, but he decided to let it go. "Damn, I always expected it to be a boy," Iruka half-teased with a sigh, smiling at Naruto, who growled under his breath, swore, and took another swig.

"Not funny."

"Sorry. Anyways, who is the lucky girl who is the focal point of your attempt to develop alcoholism?"

Naruto hiccupped. The blond then sighed again, looking down at the bar counter, the blond hairs on his eyebrows looking almost dark brown in the low light of the bar they were sitting in. Iruka had never been in this bar before—it was seedy at best and it was in a part of Konoha that he had no interest in frequenting—but he had to drop some papers off to an absent teacher at the Academy who lived in the area, and he was passing by when he'd seen Naruto inside. He knew Naruto lived on the edge of this part of town, so the fact that he knew about it made sense, but Iruka had never seen his happy-go-lucky student as ever being someone to go to a bar and drink away troubles.

"… I dunno."

The admittance drew Iruka from his thoughts. "You don't know what?" he asked, blinking.

"The girl. I don't know her. Well, I guess I kind of do, 'cause we were talking, but other than what we talked about, I know… actually, now that I think about it, I really don't know her at all. I don't know where she lives, what her name is, how old she is… all I know is that she's a kunoichi, she has red hair, and… and she's gorgeous and sarcastic and funny and so goddamn far outta my fucking league." He looked over at Iruka, blue eyes soft. "I asked her out yesterday, after we met. She agreed, but only if she could find me, and pick the time and place. I told her I only asked because I wanted to know her name, but honestly… I thought she was cute. Well, actually, that's not true. I thought she was fucking gorgeous and I wanted to get to know her, honestly."

Iruka half-scowled, half-smiled. "Naruto. Language."

"Sorry, _Otōsan_," responded Naruto in a half-sarcastic voice, rolling his eyes. He didn't actually mind that Iruka reminded him to watch his mouth, although the Academy sensei could be more vulgar than he was when upset. He liked that Iruka cared enough for him to still treat him like a child, despite being twenty years old already, going on twenty-one. "Anyways, she was beautiful, and I wanted to know her. And it actually hurts a little to not be able to see her every moment. I dreamt about her last night, and I missed her when she left. Dammit, I've only known her for about twenty-four hours and I feel lie I'll lose her. She's a stranger, but she feels so familiar to me, Iruka… how sick is that, sensei?"

Iruka smiled, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's not sick, Naruto. It's called having a crush, and there's nothing wrong with having one of those."

Naruto blinked. "I've had crushes before, and they've never felt anything like this, sensei."

Iruka knew that. But he figured it would be too soon to tell the knucklehead that he was, in fact, in love. After all, according to Naruto, he'd only just met the girl yesterday. It was a little bit quick for love to blossom, so Iruka could only assume that he'd actually known the girl for slightly longer, leading Iruka to figure that they were in the Academy together. If that was the case, it decreased the number of females Naruto was currently wishing after substantially.

_When did I decide I'd help him from the shadows? _Iruka wondered to himself, sighing and blushing. It only made sense, but, honestly… he truly did baby the Uzumaki to extreme amounts, didn't he?

"Ne, Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" Naruto asked, concerned.

The concern brought the Academy teacher back to reality, and he smiled. "I'm fine. Long day, Naruto. It's just been a long day."

"The Academy doesn't have classes tomorrow. So, do you want something to drink, too? You can even pass out on my couch if you get too drunk," Naruto said, his blue eyes showing that he was pleading his former teacher. Iruka chuckled and put his hand on top of Naruto's yellow hair, ruffling it like he used to, despite Naruto's age. Naruto brightened immediately at the familiarity of the gesture. "Is that a yes?" he said, sounding exactly like a little kid.

Iruka smiled. "Of course it's a yes, Naruto, but only on the condition that you buy for me. I don't get paid for a while, and I've been saving up my money lately."

"O-Of course! The amount of times you've treated me to Ichiraku's it's the least I can do!" Naruto said happily, busying himself with buying drinks for the two of them. A flicker of red behind him, in the window, drew Iruka's attention. An ANBU with messy red hair stood outside, watching the two of them. On inspection, Iruka noticed that the ANBU was a female. A girl with red hair… could it be the girl he was thinking about? Iruka sighed, knowing he was really going to sincerely think about this.

_I'm too observant for my own good, _Iruka thought, rubbing the scar along his nose. He did his best to discard the thought that this ANBU agent was the girl Naruto was thinking about, but as a shinobi, he couldn't completely throw it away—if she was stupid enough to let Iruka see her so plainly watching them (specifically Naruto, judging by the fact that Iruka had never seen her before, and with the threats lately to the Nara family; him being Nara Obito's teacher and the Kyūbi jinchūriki would warrant the council to give him an ANBU protection detail) then it was an avenue to explore, in Iruka's book.

Feeling daring, he smiled at the ANBU and gave them a small wave; Naruto too oblivious to notice the interaction. The ANBU visibly flinched, weakly returned the motion, and then left with a small puff of smoke. Iruka smothered his laugh—maybe it was a little wrong, but he did enjoy making more powerful shinobi feel awkward.

* * *

If it weren't for his injuries, Sasuke figured, they would have kept moving through the night. This fact caused him to grumble in distaste as Kiba set up their tents, and Kakashi and Akamaru set up the small fire. He had been forced to sit on his ass in order to keep his injuries healing without any possible issues—not that he thought there would be, but Kiba had been worried enough, and Kakashi had concurred; the ass—and so he sat right next to the tent Kiba was setting up, his sword right next to him and in easy reach in case something happened. Just because he was wounded did not mean he was going to give up on his job. Kiba looked over at him after he finished and smiled. "How're you doing? Any pain?"

"No," replied Sasuke shortly, looking away.

The concern Kiba had for him was nice, but he was too pissed to want to hear pity. Actually, he never wanted to hear pity-his pride didn't allow it-and especially not from Kiba.

Kiba's smile slipped. "Are you… are you fucking _pouting_, Sasuke?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied. His usual response when irritated. Or bored. Or calm. Or… really, usually any emotion he felt gave the response of an 'hn'. It was his go-to vocabulary word (though, technically speaking, it wasn't a word; but if the entire Uchiha clan had a say in that, it definitely would be added to the dictionary).

Kiba scowled now. "Why are you mad at me because I'm not allowing you to strain your injuries? Sasuke, you nearly died. Your side is stitched up. I don't want you to make things worse."

"I know my limits," snapped Sasuke, looking at the Inuzuka with cold black eyes. "I know when to stop."

"No, you don't" was the response from Kiba and Kakashi, who was just coming back from the woods with Akamaru, armed with firewood. Sasuke turned to him and scowled, glaring at his former sensei. Kakashi was _not _helping him. Sure, it was the truth, he figured, but it did not help his case with Kiba.

Kakashi sighed. "I've known you for years, Sasuke. If it weren't for the people you surround yourself with, you would be dead by now, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. You push yourself way too far."

Sasuke growled. "My injuries are not—"

"Don't finish that sentence," interrupted Kiba, throwing up his hands. "If you want to help, fine. I was gonna go find some game. Your aim is better than mine, so you can help me catch them." Sasuke blinked, looking up at the Inuzuka, whose arms were crossed over his chest. Maybe he was going crazy, but it sounded distinctly like Kiba was challenging him, though he gave him a compliment in there. "I mean, all we have are vegetables and fruits and protein bars, and I need meat. I like meat. I like thick, juicy meat."

Against his will, Sasuke's mouth started watering, and not for thoughts of food. _And now I'm hearing sexual connotations. I'm finally going fucking nuts. He can't be thinking with his dick right now, can he? _Sasuke managed to hide the fact that he nervously swallowed successfully, nodding and picking up his sword, pushing it between the rope belts and allowing Kiba to lead the way.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head, looking over at Akamaru. "Maa," he muttered, "You know, your friend is stupid, teasing and spoiling Sasuke like that. Sasuke's going to come back passed out over his shoulder. I understand that was his point, but… it's not good to spoil people, even if they're Sasuke." Akamaru barked, and he grinned, not because of what Akamaru said (because he couldn't understand Akamaru) but because of what had just gone down. "Though, Sasuke's so enamored with him, he doesn't even know what Kiba just did. One can only hope that he'll catch on quickly—or else, one day very far in the future, we're gonna find Kiba's body face-down in a ditch somewhere with nothing to identify him but his teeth."

Akamaru whined under his throat, trying to seem upset, but was internally laughing at the Copy nin. Nothing in Kakashi's statement was incorrect, as far as he could see—he was right on the money. If Kiba didn't play his cards right with this, he was going to end up dead from Sasuke's great vengeance and furious anger.

The two returned approximately half an hour later, Kakashi's prediction proved correct—he was carrying a passed-out Sasuke over his shoulder, as well as a handful of rabbit. Kiba grinned toothily at the man and the dog, dropping the rabbits down in front of Akamaru as he managed to gently and quietly put Sasuke down in the tent. "He passed out after about the fifth rabbit. He doesn't have all his chakra or energy back completely yet. He's exhausted."

"Maa, I figured," said Kakashi, watching the Inuzuka carefully. He didn't know much about Kiba, except that he was at the bottom of Sasuke's class in the Academy, right next to Naruto and Shikamaru. He also knew he was violent, loud, impatient, sometimes annoying (not like Naruto), vulgar, and perverse (though he couldn't penalize him for the last one, he'd be a hypocrite if he did). He was practically the exact opposite of Sasuke, with the exception of violent. Kakashi was slightly worried for his former student, for picking such a guy—not that he thought Kiba was bad, but he was worried that Sasuke would be unhappy with him. The last time he'd seen the two in the same place, they were shooting insults back and forth between each other.

Kiba began to skin the rabbits, quickly and efficiently. "We should have enough to eat for breakfast, too. These rabbits are kind of on the smallish side, so I think one for two people would constitute a meal. I caught five, so we can even stop for lunch if we need to," he said, getting the blood from the rabbits onto his fingers.

"Good," responded Kakashi with a nod, still watching Kiba intently, trying to see if he could figure out why Sasuke was head-over-heels for this male. Kiba was a good shinobi, but frankly, Sasuke was better, and he had no shortage of fan girls and fan boys. He could literally have anyone he wanted—so why go for a vulgar Inuzuka who was, practically speaking, his exact opposite in almost everything?

"Can you stop staring at me?" growled Kiba after five minutes of Kakashi's staring. Kakashi didn't even bother to look scandalized—he simply raised an eyebrow. "It's annoying and, quite frankly, it's making my skin crawl as if you dumped a bunch of fleas and ticks onto my body. I don't like it when people stare at me. It makes me want to rip shit up."

"Maa, sorry," said Kakashi insincerely, "I'm just… I don't know you."

Kiba raised one eyebrow. "You're concerned for Sasuke. I can almost smell it on you. You don't think I'm good for him."

"No. I honestly don't, Kiba," responded Kakashi, putting aside pretense. "He doesn't like talking about it but everyone close to him could see that he was in love with you, and you were always telling him to go die and then almost immediately afterwards you were fucking someone else practically in his face. It makes no sense to me why he'd love someone who was as cruel to him as you were." Kiba opened his mouth, and Kakashi held up his hand. "I know you make him happy. I've seen him glow. He doesn't glow around anyone else but Naruto, and even that glow is not as bright as the one he has around you. And while I want to respect you for making him happy I can't bypass the fact that his love for you also made him miserable." Kiba looked down, frowning and fisting his hands. "So no, Kiba, I don't think you're any good for him. He does love you and from what I saw, you love him but you've hurt him almost more than his brother did. I don't know if I'll _ever_ like you."

"You're protective of him," whispered Kiba.

"Yes. He, Naruto, and Hinata—they're like my own children. I can't like anyone who hurts my children," said Kakashi honestly, "They're my family. You do understand the point I come from, pup?"

Kiba nodded. "Yeah. Family and loyalty before all else," he said, "And I am loyal to Sasuke. He's my mate."

Kakashi raised his silver eyebrow. "You've already claimed Sasuke as a mate?" he asked, surprise in his throat. The process was something only the most serious did to their partners. One bite, and the marked was joined with their Inuzuka—or Aburame or Hatake—partner for life. In the case of the Inuzuka, it gave them the ability to hear everything the ninken said, and it gave them an amount of dominance over the ninken, but it was something that required an agreement on both parties, or one of them would feel incomplete, despite the closeness. The marker would dominate the other, and the other would be forced to be submissive to an unbearable amount.

"Not yet," admitted Kiba, "But I plan to." He flicked a look back at the tent. "I won't mark him until he's fully comfortable with our relationship. I know I've hurt him before, so I want him to feel comfortable around me before I mark him. After all… it's a contract. It's binding." He smiled softly. "If I do it before he's ready, he'll be unhappy or he'll run off… like my dad. I don't want to lose him with this."

"You're young for a claim," Kakashi said, "I haven't even claimed anyone. I doubt I ever will. Most don't."

"I _love_ him. It took me a while to get over myself, but I love him." Kiba gave a half-smile. "I don't plan on letting him go, if I can help it. Kabuto attacking him was just icing on top of the cake. As an added bonus to him being mine by clan law, the dogs will listen to him and protect him. Considering who's after him, I think that protection will be perfect." He returned his attention to the rabbit in his hand. "I've gotta start cooking these. I don't want him to wake up to raw rabbit."

Kiba moved forwards, picking up sticks that Akamaru had been sharpening for him with his teeth while the two shinobi spoke. As he skewered them, he continued to speak.

"I know you don't understand why I want him, or more accurately why _he_ wants _me_. To be completely honest I don't know. You're right and Kabuto was right too; Sasuke _is_ a better shinobi than me. The idea of him wanting me is odd. But… by some fucking _miracle_ he does, and I want him too. When I have him I don't hate the world half as much as I normally do. He soothes me. He makes me calmer, though admittedly more horny, but that's beside the point. Sasuke… I think Sasuke makes me better than I am. I need that in my life. I need him in my life to feel worth it. He's my opposite and sometimes that may piss me off, but… but I'm perfectly okay with that."

Kiba didn't notice Sasuke opening the tent, nor did he notice him getting closer to him, but Kakashi and Akamaru did, and neither made any attempt to make Kiba aware of the fact.

"I know you don't like me and I wish you did because you're important to Sasuke, but I can't force you to and I honestly shouldn't have to unless it made Sasuke happy. I would do anything to make him happy after the shit I've forced him to put up with. I'll never be able to change the shit I've done, I'll never be able to make him forget all the people I've slept with; but I can make sure that he knows that I'm no one else's but his. I don't want anyone else but him. I don't care if some people think it's wrong, whether it's because we're men or it's because he left Konoha or it's because I'm nowhere near as strong as he is; I'm _going to be with him_. I want him to be my mate."

A hand touching his shoulder was what made him stop ranting (he hadn't even realized he was until the hand interrupted him, in fact), and he turned around, not even realizing that it was Sasuke behind him until he caught sight of the all-too-familiar black eyes of the Uchiha. "Ah! Sasuke, I…"

Sasuke stopped him putting a hand on his mouth, saying, "Despite the shit I've put you through in the time I've known you, you care about me. Despite the fact that I betrayed our home in the name of my clan you want to protect me. Despite the fact that I left our home and my best friend and my adoptive family you love me. Despite the fact that I was the biggest bastard to you, you forgave me." He gave a small smile. "Thanks, Kiba. Thank you, Kiba. Thank you."

He leaned his forehead against the stunned-into-silence Inuzuka, his eyes wide and unblinking as he looked at the Uchiha, who closed his eyes and smiled to himself. Licking his lips, he grabbed Kiba by his hand, forcing the Inuzuka to let go of the skewers and pulling him into the tent. Kakashi's brow furrowed, watching the two of them before sighing, picking up the rabbits off the ground and grabbing his bottle of water, beginning to rinse them off.

"Looks like it's just me and you, Akamaru," he muttered, and the dog barked in agreement.

Within the tent, Sasuke pushed Kiba to his back, straddling the slightly taller male before leaning over him and kissing him fully on the lips. Kiba's eyes widened further in surprise at Sasuke's forwardness, as well as the amount of longing and lust he felt in the kiss. It was hungry and passionate, and it was an opening for something more, an idea Sasuke was apparently open with based on the fact that he felt it to be a requirement to thrust his tongue into Kiba's open mouth, exploring the cavern with that muscle of his while Kiba's lust for Sasuke increased tenfold, as did his shock.

Kiba pulled away with a gasp, his breathing heavy. Sasuke moved on, his own breath coming in pants as he began to lick and kiss Kiba's jaw line and pulled down on the zipper of Kiba's jacket. Pushing the jacket off his shoulders with little more than a hostile grunt, Sasuke attacked Kiba's bared collarbone, his hands shoving themselves underneath the fishnet shirt and playing with every bit of skin he could reach, the tip of his finger brushing against Kiba's nipple and making him moan and arch into those playful hands of his. Grinning to himself, Sasuke sucked hard on that tan collarbone of the Inuzuka's, intent on leaving his own mark on that dark skin while tweaking those hardened nubs of nipples that Kiba was currently sporting. Heat pooling in the pit of his stomach as his dick twitched in lust, Sasuke began to grind against Kiba's groin, moving his lips up from the hickey he'd given and playing with Kiba's earlobe, his left hand releasing the nipple it was attacking to run down Kiba's torso, moving down to the crotch of Kiba's pants, where an obvious tent was forming. Feeling bold, Sasuke began to rub the tented area in sync to his grinding, a moan escaping his lips and going directly into the other male's ear.

Kiba seemed to find some awareness at this point, grabbing the Uchiha's hands. "W-What are you doing?" he asked, licking his lips nervously.

"I want to get closer to you," whispered Sasuke, blushing at the romantic lilt. He also could hear a slight amount of begging in his tone, but honestly, he didn't care. It felt right, being this close to Kiba.

"Ah… Sasuke…" Kiba said, sitting up, nearly bumping his forehead against the Uchiha's. "Sasuke… I want… I wanna take this slow," he whispered, furrowing his eyebrows. Sasuke's eyes displayed hurt, and Kiba felt obliged to explain. "Sasuke… it's hasn't even been three days since we first kissed. In that time frame, you were beaten within an inch of your life, and you were saved by your supposedly dead relative. That's a lot for any person to go through, and yet you take it as if it's _normal _and as if it's perfectly fine. It makes me realize that we're really different people, and beyond that, you're built to take things I cannot comprehend. And when I think about that, all I think about is how little I actually know you." Kiba swallowed and tightened his grip on Sasuke's hand. "I wanna get to know you more first Sasuke, intimately—and no, not just sex. I wanna know more about you. I wanna know everything about you, everything Naruto knows, everything Itachi knows, everything Kakashi knows, and more. I don't know half as much about you as I'd like, and I know you don't know that much about me."

Sasuke looked like a kicked puppy. "But… those people you slept with… they didn't know you. Why can't we do those things and get to know each other at the same time?"

"Because… you mean more to me than some fuck, Sasuke—that's all those people were to me; some fuck. You're everything to me. I don't know how to be romantic about this shit, but I can be frank—I fucking _love you. _I can never say it enough. I fucking love you, Uchiha Sasuke. I think that the sun shines outta your ass half the time, and the other half, I really think that sun is burning your asshole up and that's why you're a dickhead; but that's what love is, isn't it—knowing exactly how human the person you care about the most is, and having the guts to try and make their humanism brightest.

"I dunno. I'm not Shino, so I won't try to quantify what it is. All I can do is hope you understand my half-retarded way of expressing myself. This is the exact reason we can't have sex yet—I don't know if you can understand me." He leaned his head on Sasuke's shoulder. "I don't think I've ever spoken that much about _anything_ before in my life. I'm passionate about shit, but you do things to me I just _can't_ fucking _understand._"

"Kiba," whispered Sasuke.

"Ah?" he hummed, not lifting his head.

"I understand." Kiba could almost hear the smile in his voice. "We'll take it slow. You're right; we weren't friends to begin with. I don't know half of your life, and you don't know about mine. So… I guess… let's do that."

"Get to know each other?"

"Yes, dumbass."

"…I don't like being called dumbass."

"Duly noted. I'll save _that_ **_endearing term_** for when I really am pissed at you, then." Kiba chuckled, and he wrapped his arms around the male in his lap. Sasuke smiled, moving closer into the Inuzuka, allowing himself to be held without worrying about his security. Kiba was more than enough. "What do you want to know about me, Kiba?"

Kiba swallowed before saying, with much hesitation, "Tell me about your father." Sasuke stilled and blinked. "Judging by the fact that you kept the weapons set he gave you, you really loved your father, possibly more than you love even your brother and your mother. So tell me about him. Since I'll never meet him, I want to get to know him based off your memories."

"My memories of him aren't that amazing…"

"But if I'm right, the way you'll say them will make them sound like they are." Kiba rubbed his nose against Sasuke's collarbone. "I mean, you don't have to tell me about him, if you don't want, I guess…"

"No." Sasuke swallowed. "I want to talk about him."

He bit his lip and looked down at the tan skin of Kiba's neck, his face turning red. Could he talk about him? Was he ready? He didn't know, but he wanted to. If it were Kiba asking, then he really wanted to. In fact, he wished that he could've introduced Kiba to him, to his father. According to Itachi, his father didn't care that his youngest way gay. Would he have accepted Kiba, though, he wondered?

He smiled softly at the thought of his father and his love getting along, and that alone allowed him to speak. "My father was the chief of Konoha police and the former head of the Uchiha…"

Outside the tent, Kakashi and Akamaru were listening into their conversation, quietly eating their rabbits. They both knew fully well that they were eating more than they were supposed to, but neither cared-they both had big appetites, and neither of them were planning on sharing. Kakashi smiled to himself as he ate, listening to the tone of voice that Sasuke spoke about his father. As far as he knew, Sasuke wouldn't even talk about him to his own mother. _I guess… Kiba is good for him_, Kakashi allowed, letting his normal eye slide shut as he simply listened to Sasuke.

* * *

The worst mistake, for anyone in the world of shinobi to make, is to underestimate their opponent's scope. An opponent should never be underestimated, despite what they seemed like. The most dangerous of opponents come in the most unsuspecting of packages; a lesson passed on from generation to generation. It is better for a ninja to seem unsuspecting rather than the ruthless killers they may actually be, such as in the case of Hyūga Hinata—she seemed sweet and innocent but with the drop of a hat she could have one's head sliced clean off of the shoulders that they once had. The shinobi world had one basic lesson: never underestimate someone.

People consistently made that mistake with Uzumaki Naruto. It is easy for one to see why—more often than not, Naruto is verbally loud and explicit, he has a distinct lack of privacy when it comes to some topics, he is generally unassuming about the people who he is closest to (innocently so, actually), and he has a distinct lack of real intelligence, in the eyes of the shinobi who don't notice him. Also, he wears that obnoxious shade of orange all the time—it's basically like Naruto _asks_ people to try and fuck with him.

The problem is, with people merely answering his call, is that they don't realize Naruto is the Venus Flytrap of shinobi world. His unsuspecting air and general stupidity is what draws the enemy to him like a bank robber to money or (in the case of the example) an insect to a flower. And then, much like the carnivorous flower that was aforementioned he consumes them; decimating them with ease. Naruto is not a weakling, nor will he ever be a weakling. Naruto was born with the natural capacity to excel as being a ninja, intelligent or not.

Drunk or not, too.

Though, if one was to be picky, Naruto would much prefer to be sober.

Call him crazy—but dodging kunai is a hell of a lot easier when one _isn't _heavily inebriated.

In the back of his mind, he tried to remember at which point he had actually _began_ dodging kunai and shuriken. He'd been walking home from the bar—alone, because Iruka had left a while before him, for some reason—looking for his tail in order to get some amusement in his night. He noticed someone who wasn't his tail following him, and he'd done what any normal shinobi would do: he substituted himself out for a shadow clone and managed to get around the person tailing him. It was then that he'd been informed that it was not a _person _tailing him—it was multiple. Maybe it was at that point that he began dodging all these weapons.

But then again, did it really matter when?

Naruto gritted his teeth, running down the wall, shuriken and kunai embedding themselves in his wake. He was thankful that he had close to inhuman strength and speed when need be or else he would be long dead; this shinobi's aim was impeccable. Pushing of the wall, he pulled shuriken out of his thigh pouch, throwing them into the tree line before landing in a crouch on his feet. He moved based on intuition, no concrete theory, but that had always worked for him in the past. Leaping into the air again, he went into the tree line, his fist connecting with a shinobi that, honestly, he didn't even realize was there. In the back of his mind, he was worried that it was his ANBU marker—who, on further consideration, really should be helping-but one look at her fact told him it was not the marker, no; it was in fact worse…

… It was the nameless girl he was agonizing over.

They landed in a messy pile on the grassy ground, a tangle of arms and legs and scarf. He landed on top of her, pressing her into the ground and nearly pushing his elbow into her rib cage. As soon as he landed, he disconnected himself, blue eyes wide. She groaned and sat up, rubbing the top of her head in pain.

"Shit, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to attack you! I was going on intuition!"

"Yeah, because that's something every shinobi should listen to," she responded with a whisper, opening one large brown eye and glaring at the Uzumaki. "Although, now I suppose we're even, seeing as how I broke your nose yesterday and now it feels like you've broken my right thumb."

"Shit!" he cursed again, blushing wildly. Some guy he was!

She blinked. "Shouldn't you be whispering? I thought you were getting attacked, Uzumaki-kun."

It was his turn to blink. "How did you know that?" he asked.

She pointed to the Leaf metal hitai-ate piece, a light smile on her face. "I don't wear this for fun, Uzumaki. I heard metal-on-metal, so I came running. I didn't expect you to be here." Not exactly true, or, at least, not completely—she had placed two of her shadow clones on Naruto duty while she went to dinner, trying to figure out her own shit, when one of the clones' memories came to her, telling her that Naruto was in trouble. Her second clone managed to take care of some of the enemies before she arrived—not that Naruto needed to know that she'd done it. However… if she told him as Fuki and not the ANBU…

"I spotted two unconscious ninja back-a-ways, by the way."

He sighed in relief. "Thank God. Good-for-nothing ANBU did do something." Fuki frowned, about to refute Naruto's assumption that an ANBU like _her_ would really just stand aside while someone was getting attacked; especially her mark, when she noticed the approach of two foreign chakras. She pulled kunai out of her back pouch, throwing them at the foreign chakras, hitting her mark dead on. She jumped up from where she was sitting, pulling off her scarf and throwing it to the side, knowing that while it was comfy, it would really get in the way.

Taking them out was… more than easy, it seemed. It was mostly because they were ridiculously under-trained in Fuki's opinion but it was also probably because they already seemed to be afraid of Naruto. It made sense: Naruto could extrude danger and warnings by his aura alone, an aura that spontaneously erupted upon her nearly getting the air kicked out of her chest, though she did manage to absorb the worst of that into her arms when she brought them up.

All that really happened was that she fell to the ground and coughed up blood; but that seemed to be enough for the Uzumaki, who grew immediately angry. Within seconds (actually, seconds was a bit of a stretch with time, it was actually probably just _one _blink of her eyes) the two shinobi were on the ground, unconscious, beaten bloody, but still _practically_ alive, Naruto standing over her with curiosity in his blue depths. More than likely, she figured (based on his file); he didn't even realize what he'd done to those shinobi.

"Are you okay?" he asked, smiling sweetly down at her. Her heart sped up exponentially, trying to leap into her throat. _What the hell is this? _"Can you get up?"

"Yeah," she sputtered, getting to her feet and looking behind him. "A-Are they okay, though, Uzumaki-kun?"

Naruto looked over his shoulder, a momentary dark look covering his face that Fuki couldn't help but notice. "Hmm? Yeah, they'll be fine."

"You don't sound like you care," she said slowly, thinking, _Which is very uncharacteristic of you, not to care…_

Naruto shrugged. "They attacked me. They're not good people, and I'm too drunk for sympathy right now, dattebayo," said Naruto, yawning wide and stretching his arms over his head. "So, _Tokumei_…"

Her eyebrows twitched, and her attention was diverted from the fact that Naruto was uncharacteristically cold about the fact that he had brought harm to these shinobi. She wanted to ask why that was, but a small part of her was content with not knowing the exact reasons. Fear, maybe? She didn't know. She didn't need to, either.

"Did you just call me _anonymous_?" she asked in an irritated tone, slowly getting to her feet. "I have a name."

"A name I don't know, and won't know until we go out so I'll have to call you Tokumei until I do," Naruto responded with a shrug, licking his chapped lips. "Or we could go out now. Get dinner or something."

"It's one o'clock in the morning," she deadpanned.

"Okay, early breakfast, then, dattebayo," said Naruto with a smile before he cocked his head to the side. "Hey, why're you out so late, then?"

She was lying before she even thought about it. "I was chasing my cat." Yes, the mystical feline that she was, in fact, deathly allergic to. Just one cat hair would have her puffing up like a blow fish. "His name is Kawai." Another lie. She would never name her cat something like _cute_. She would name it something like _Surasshā_, _Awatateki_, or _Desutoroiyā_—something tough; something cool. Nothing like _Kawai_. "I have no idea where he is."

He grimaced. "Must be tough; having a cat."

"Yeah, it is," she continued to lie, "But I was about to go back home. He found his way out; so he can find his way back. And then I heard the commotion and I came to help. Though, I don't think you really needed it… all I did was get in the way." Not true, again, but she kept it. Becoming an ANBU made her a chronic liar, which was actually a good thing. It was keeping Naruto from getting figuring her out, wasn't it?

Naruto smiled, reassuring her that her lying was indeed working to its fullest potential.

"Well, since I broke your thumb, the least I can do is take you out for something to eat. I think there are a couple of twenty-four-hour places that my sensei used to take me to in the area. We can go to one of those," he said in a way that Fuki knew to be sweet. Naruto was a nice guy, wasn't he? When he wasn't pulling pranks or being annoying or obnoxious or idiotic or competitive… basically, she decided, when he was being anyone else but himself.

She actually wanted to say yes. But… but the time wasn't right. She was hungry, yes, but the time wasn't right. And plus, she was getting an increasingly unsettled feeling like this date of Naruto's would be far more than something friendly, crossing into something that she didn't want to have, that she was, in fact, not ready to have and was unsure if she ever would be.

"No, Uzumaki-kun, I've gotta get home," she said, giving him a small smile and rubbing the tip of her nose with her index finger. "I kinda locked all the doors and windows, ergo, I locked out little Kawai. So, I have to go open them for him…"

Technically, half-true. She did lock all the doors and windows, but she locked out a hell of a lot more than some troublesome cat. She, instead, locked out two ANBU operatives; her current roommates. They regularly forgot their keys, and tonight was no exception to that rule (why Daichi had insisted moving in with her, she had no idea; he could've lived in the Hyūga compounds if he wanted to), and they would be pissed at her if she locked them out, especially this late at night (or this early in the morning; it truly depended on how you looked at the fact that it was one AM).

Naruto gave a small pout that made her want to back out of what she'd just said, the realization of which immediately made her stubborn and relentless and stick to her lie out of fear. "C'mon, your kitty can wait a little extra while… breakfast…"

"Sorry, Uzumaki-kun, I can't," she insisted gently, smiling at the jinchūriki. "That cat… you have no idea. He's very… he's got a temper."

Temper didn't say the half of it—Daichi and Takeshi were both more than capable of breaking in, and they were also both more than capable of ripping apart her clothing and other items-again. Usually, it was just Daichi who did it, but Takeshi sometimes joined in; though Takeshi did it to Daichi too, not just her. He liked to play both sides of the field, and he was equally and viciously aggressive to both. "I don't want him to claw up my sheets or anything. He does that when he's mad."

_Among things. _

"And you call him cute?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"It was a good name at the time," responded Fuki, slightly flustered. She pushed her annoying red locks behind her ear, only for them to pop back out. She grabbed her scarf off the ground, wrapping it quickly around her neck. "And if you got to know him, you'd see he could be cute."

"I'd like to meet him, then. Where's your address?"

She smirked. "If I told you that, you'd get my name. I live in a flat; my name's next to the buzzer. But you figured that already, didn't you?"

Naruto gaped, showing her that he had, in fact, remained incognizant of such a fact. She resisted the urge to give him an 'are you truly an idiot' glare, instead simply raising one brown eyebrow. "Shit. I didn't. FUCK!"

Fuki giggled, walking over to the pouting idiot and going onto her tiptoes, kissing his cheek. Why, she didn't know, but it seemed like a harmless way to go.

"Don't worry, I won't forget about our date, Uzumaki-kun. You'll learn my name when I decide when our date will be. Is that fair enough?" He growled under his breath and shook his head, making her giggle—though now, looking back at it, she wished she _truly_ noticed the tinge of red touching his eyes. "Well… it kinda has to be, because I'm not telling you now. It'll be… it'll be a mystery. It'll keep you intrigued and waiting for our date."

"I am intrigued. Waiting is where we reach a problem," said Naruto huskily, grabbing Fuki by the back of her neck, turning them around so that her back was against the tree. Her brows furrowed as Naruto pressed himself against her, his nose pushing her scarf to the side before tickling her neck, causing her to bite her bottom lip in an attempt to smother a shiver. He ghosted his lips against her skin, goose bumps coming up where his mouth had hovered over. "I'm not smart enough for mysteries. I always like to just cut to the chase." He was warm, so warm; warming up her entire body without even a real need to press against her, but when he was, she wasn't complaining. Her wide brown eyes fluttered shut against her will and she bit harder on her lip. "Can I get your name?"

"No…" she murmured as Naruto's blond locks brushed against her cheek, tickling the skin. She liked this. Why did she like this? It was sexual harrassment! She should be kicking his ass! "N-Not until the date…"

"I can't get it a little… _early_?" he asked huskily, his fingers weaving between the bright red locks. "Not right now?"

"No…"

Lips touched her skin, right below her ear. Her arms wrapped involuntarily around Naruto's neck. In the back of her mind, she tried to remember the last time a man touched her like this. She couldn't remember the last time her stomach felt like it was being filled with fire, her nerves shivering and jumping with electricity, increasing her sensitivity and making every touch seem as if it was silk against her skin, though Naruto's hands were nowhere near as gentle as the touch of silk. What Naruto was doing to her; she wasn't entirely sure she'd ever felt it before, even with all the relationships she'd been in before. This was an entirely new sensation that was taking her over, turning her red and hot from the tip of her head to the edge of her toes. Whatever Naruto was doing to her, it was new, and it was just… amazing. And…

And it was scaring her.

She was ANBU. He was a Jōnin, and also her mark. While, technically, she was doing her job, she was also _not _doing her job. What if she lost focus and someone swooped behind him and stabbed him?

She couldn't have that.

She couldn't afford to lose focus and to get attached. There was a reason that most ANBU didn't have relationships, and she'd learnt it the hard way.

Oh, did she learn the hard way.

Her eyes widened, and she felt a moment of clarity.

Clarity always came before the storm.

With as much strength as she possessed without expending chakra, she managed to push him away, her brows furrowing and her wide brown eyes flashing with lust, passion, anger, confusion, fear, and guilt.

"I'm not telling you _jack shit_, Uzumaki!" she spat, wrapping her arms around tightly around herself—an attempt to hold in her shivers of fear. "I don't want to tell you yet, so stop trying to fucking make me!"

Naruto's eyes filled with worry, the tint of red she'd failed to notice beforehand drifting out of his irises. "I… I'm sorry. I dunno what came over me. God, I'm so sorry."

She chewed on her bottom lip, flashes coming into her head. She couldn't even stop it now. She could feel a meltdown. "I… I have to go. I'll see you later, Uzumaki," she managed to say before jumping away, trying to get to her home without Naruto following her.

She'd left a shadow clone to watch him so she didn't worry about watching him. She landed on her windowsill, noticing her two roommates sitting on the sofa; waiting for her. Weakly, she rapped on the window, managing to get their attentions. Daichi was the first to his feet, opening the window as Takeshi pulled her into his arms before she fell in through the open window, carrying her carefully and sitting down on the couch, cradling her against his chest as her meltdown finally began, her fingers gripping Takeshi's shirt tightly. Daichi picked up her legs, placing them on his lap and gently stroking her leg, making gentle sounds. They both knew exactly what to do; they'd had to do it multiple times with her before.

"Breathe in, breathe out," whispered Takeshi as she whimpered, beginning to squirm. "Breathe in, breathe out."

"I can feel them on me!" she cried, eyes wide with fear.

Daichi shushed her. "They're not here, girlie, they're not. Listen to Takeshi and just breathe. We'll get through this, trust me. Just breathe and listen to us. Just breathe, please, just breathe…"

Takeshi tightened his grip on her as she began to fuss more, pressing her face into his chest. And to think, they were planning on ripping up her things while they waited for her. Thank God that they were just going to lightly chastise her when she came; he was sure that it would've been worse if they'd ripped things. They would've felt a hell of a lot guiltier afterwards.

"I wanna kick that scum's _ass_ for what he did," growled Takeshi."

"I think we already did. We also killed him, remember?" Daichi responded with equal anger in his tone. "There's nothing more that we can do than just help her through these moments and hope that someday, it'll be over." He grabbed her free hand, holding it tight. "You'll be okay," he murmured gently, "You'll be okay."

* * *

"I'm leaving."

Such two simple words, but such a large effect.

Tsunade's head snapped up from the file she was writing in, her golden eyes searching Jiraiya's face for any sort of sign that the man was trying to deliver the punch line to a not-funny joke. Wheat-gold eyebrows furrowed in the still youthful, delicate face of the Senju as she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest and [inadvertently] thrusting her breasts out, trying to seem fearsome, and though she did do it very well, the apparent vulnerability that shook her healthy frame outshined any fearsomeness she might have.

"You're _what_?" she hissed at him.

Jiraiya sighed. "Tsu," he muttered, looking from her face to (unexpectedly) her painted toes. "I need to do something."

"Do it here," she ordered automatically. "I give you a free pass to peep on the hot springs. I will pay for any geishas you go to. I will give you anything. Just don't _leave_." Why did everyone just want to leave her alone? Was she that irritating? That volatile? That unlovable? Was it physically impossible for anyone to simply _stay _with her? Did everyone have to leave _all the time_?

Jiraiya winced. "As good as that sounded, no. I really do have to leave, Tsu-chan." He sighed, licking the corner of his lip like he always did, back when they were in their youths and he didn't want to tell her something she didn't want to hear. Jiraiya hated sharing with her things that would make her upset, for some reason, and it'd stayed with him his whole life, apparently. "I'm leaving."

"No. You're not allowed to leave. That's an order!" she snapped at him, her hand slamming down on her desk and breaking off that chunk with ease, which Jiraiya didn't even flinch at—he just gave her a pained look.

"I plan on coming back," he said.

Tsunade's nostrils flared. "You said that last time!" she barked at him, her words flinging venom at the Toad Sage. "You swore you'd come back last time, and yeah, sure you did, but it took you five years to do it! _Five years, Jiraiya!_ Do you even understand how painful something like that is?! You don't! You don't understand jack shit! You take these things on your shoulders and you don't let me help you! I am your _teammate_, Goddammit, and I am your Hokage, and I _order you to stay in this fucking village!_"

Jiraiya kept giving her the same look rather than speaking, and she only grew angrier.

"_FUCKING SPEAK_!"

"I have a lead," he said, "And I need to follow up. The less you know, the better it is. Don't tell Naruto, Tsu."

"You leave and you're a missing nin, Jiraiya! I will have your ass hunted into _the fucking ground!_"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"Do not _dare_ to fucking _patronize me!_"

"I'm not. I'm stating a fact." He sighed. "I promise you I'm going to come home, as soon as possible. I'm not going to hide for years on end. I'm coming back to Konoha as soon as I'm done with what I'm doing… I'm coming back home to my last remaining teammate." His eyes were soft. "Tsu, you know I don't make promises I don't mean."

"You just twist them to suit your purposes," she said, anger growing although the tears began to run down her face, her body shaking as she tried to hold back the full force of her tears.

"Don't cry, Tsu. When you cry, it makes me want to stay," he said, taking two long steps towards her in order to press her thumb into her cheek. She looked at him, giving him a half-hearted glare. "I will not miss any more years of the lives of those I care about. I will come back to Konoha." He shot her his signature grin, his eyes crinkling at the edges. "I never go back on my word, not to anyone, and especially not to you."

"If you do, I will find you and kill you with a teaspoon," she threatened.

The smile widened.

"I don't doubt you would."

* * *

_**My schedule at school: Con. Law, Research Writing, Psychology, Chemistry, and my major (Electrical/Computer Engineering). Shit's tiring. And aggravating. And I've yet to take my SATs or my SAT Subject Tests, or even my ACT (which I really need to register for; I've registered for the other two). **_

_**I am going to be SOOOO busy. **_

_**And stressed. **_

_**Which means my weekends will be spent writing :)**_

_**I have a poll up! If you only have a guest account, then review with your response (Who is your favorite Of Strength/We Rise Above OC?) Choices are: **_

_**-Nara Obito/Nara Shikaru**_

_**-Shizuka**_

_**-Hatake Hayato**_

_**-Nara Soyokaze **_

_**-Senju Obito/Meiwaku **_

_**Tell me! **_

_**Thank you, **__**sailorangelmoon1**__**, for your review... glad to know I did not disappoint with the random wild KankHina lemon and all those romance-y touchy-feely moments of HanaObi... I hope the touchy-feely moment of SasuKiba is good too!**_

_**I hope you enjoyed! See you next time!**_


	20. Chapter 19: Blood

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!_**

* * *

_BLOOD_

_/bləd/_

_the red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of humans and other vertebrae animals; (in hunting) to smear the face of [a novice] with the blood of the kill or give [a hound] a first taste of blood; family background, descent or lineage._

* * *

_"Kakashi." _

_At five years old, Kakashi had never been called by a pet name, nor would he want to be. Kakashi was already mature for his age—having a father like his did that to a boy. It wasn't that Hatake Sakumo was a bad parent; he was amazing, in Kakashi's eyes but he lacked a mother's tact. He didn't know how to raise a boy as precocious as Kakashi. To his credit, he did his best, and Kakashi did come out alright in the end; but he matured way too quickly, a fact that Kakashi knew his father didn't take any sort of pride in the fact of. After all, no parents wants to hear a five-year-old say that the gods of the stories didn't exist. They want to see them enjoying their childhood. Sakumo could tell that Kakashi hadn't, and that wasn't good, but it was what is was and he had learned to accept that Kakashi, at five years old, could handle himself better than most Chūnin-leveled shinobi. _

_"__Yes, Otōsan?" he asked, sharpening the light kunai he had received as a birthday gift rather than the toy Sakumo had really wanted to get his son. _

_"Come," said Sakumo, making a beckoning sign with his hands. Obediently, Kakashi put down the knife, pushing himself to his feet and walking over to his father, dark grey eyes showing slight boredom amongst curiosity. Sakumo sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Kakashi was precocious and sometimes aggravating due to the fact that he was slightly cocky, and not at all like a normal child. _

_The question of 'How do I do this' was clearly written on Sakumo's face as he walked out of the small apartment the two lived in within the larger Hatake compound, which was, as always, predominantly empty. He was sure that there was a family member or two around, for the minute, but that was about it. The Hatake weren't known for staying around for large amounts of time. They were loyal to Konoha, yes, but they were also very… nomadic. They hated being confined to one village, despite the fact that they got missions outside of it often. They tended to travel, in packs, their children along with them. Most of them weren't even registered shinobi. _

_"Where are we going?" asked Kakashi with a small frown on his face. _

_"Out," said Sakumo as vaguely as humanly possible, ignoring Kakashi's glare and irritated sigh. Kakashi hated when he did that, and he really wanted Kakashi to stop taking things as seriously as he did. It was off-putting. He was five, for Chrissakes. Shouldn't he be giggling and trying to get a real response, not glaring and sighing like a teenager? _

_"Will I benefit?" he instead asked, fisting his small hands at his sides and looking up at his father. _

_"Of course. Now shut up, Kakashi," sighed Sakumo, not knowing what else to say. He crouched down in front of his son, not telling him what to do but expecting him to know it—which, being the child genius that he was he did, climbing onto his father's back. Kakashi may be good with the ninjutsu arts but he was only five; he couldn't jump as high or run as fast as Sakumo could and did. _

_Within minutes the two left the village behind, neither of them noting that it was the dead of night and eerily silent. If his memory served him right, it was always these kinds of nights that things were more silent than normal. Creepy, yes. But he wouldn't have it any other way. He knew that if it were noisy, doing what he needed to do would be so much harder than it had to be. _

_He sat the young Kakashi down on a large slab of rock, giving him a needless reassuring smile. Kakashi was overly confident for his age, and overly assured. He didn't need the reassurance. But Sakumo was a parent, and he couldn't help but try to assure his son. He pulled a bandana out of his pocket, placing it over Kakashi's forehead and tying it as tightly as possible. Kakashi looked up at him, the only thing showing his confusion was the almost imperceptible furrowing of his eyebrows. Sakumo smiled again, going into his back pouch and pulling out a kunai, giving it over to him. The kunai was heavier than he knew Kakashi was used to, and it was also longer, with a different shape than Kakashi usually dealt with. _

_"This kunai is especially meant for slitting the throats of enemies," Sakumo said, sliding his finger over the sharp end of the blade, careful not to spill any blood, while he pulled out two fingerless gloves from his back pouch and slid them onto Kakashi's hands. "It serves no other purpose. You can't throw it. You can't stab. You must slice. This knife is meant for true assassins. It's meant for true hunters." _

_"What exactly are we doing tonight, Otōsan?" Kakashi asked before Sakumo placed a finger on his lips. _

_"__You'll see, Kakashi. Stay here." Sakumo gave his son no time to argue as he leaped away, leaving the five-year-old Kakashi alone. _

_Kakashi shifted around on the slab of rock he was sitting on, uncomfortable. Though more mature for his age than many other children, Kakashi still had yet to spend more than five minutes without some adult nearby. He was a child, after all. Children are not left without supervision, despite how skilled a child may be. _

_He curled in on himself, biting his bottom lip as he looked up at the sky, mostly for lack of something to do. In the back of his mind, he noted there was a lunar eclipse tonight. It was kind of cool, in his view. He bit his bottom lip, looking away from the moon to the kunai in his grasp, which barely reflected the light from the moon. Kakashi's heart sped up just at the sight of it. The other kunai, the lighter, less sharpened ones he used; were for practice. This was for killing. This was for cold-blooded killing. It was freaky, to hold something like that in your hands. _

_A low growl distracted him from his thoughts. Shooting to his feet, which he noted for the first time were bare, he turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of two wolves behind him, their lips pulled back into a snarl that had him shaking. He barely managed to swallow his scream of terror as he tightened his grip on the kunai his father had given him. One wolf parted, their expressive yellow eyes locked onto his small form as he walked around the rock and daring hm to take his eyes off of his compatriot. _

_He gulped, counting the heartbeats that thudded in his ears as he stilled himself, trying not to seem like any sort of target. He wanted to scream for his dad, but he was afraid that would only instigate an attack, one that, at his young age he would never be able to fend off. _

_He tightened his grip slightly on the handle of the kunai knife. The paler one—the one walking around him—barked at him, making him flinch. The other wolf, who'd remained in the same place, growled deeper, forcing him to loosen his grip. _

Stop it, idiot! _Kakashi chastised himself, fisting his free hand, the glove protecting him from cutting his palm with his nails. _Where is my father?

_Adrenaline was pumping forcefully in his veins, making him want to either fight-or-flight. Flight seemed like an amazing option, but he didn't want to: he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun these wolves. He was a child! They were huge wolves! How could he even think to dream to go faster than them at an age like his? What delusion would he be under to even think for a second that he could go faster? _

_The wolf growled again. _Feeding time, _Kakashi thought, the sound making his decision for him. _If I can't run, then I'm putting up a fight.

_He tightened his grip on the handle of the kunai as the darker wolf lunged, managing to leap out of the way with a burst of power and endorphins. The pale one lunged as well, as soon as Kakashi's bare feet touched the grassy ground, and Kakashi whirled around, moving to plunge his kunai into the wolf's flank but failing, the curved edge not sharp enough for stabbing. _

He was serious! _Kakashi thought as the wolf pushed away, biting his plump bottom lip as the wolf managed to drag their clawed paw down on Kakashi's chest, tearing through clothing and flesh. He did give a small cry; his eyes dry with the need to tear up. He pulled back, fixing his grip on the kunai in order to have it so that slicing was his primary form of defense and offense rather than stabbing. _

_Stabbing wouldn't work. _

_Throwing wouldn't work. _

_He had to get up close and personal. He had no other weapon. _

_The pale wolf attacked again, the darker pulling back as his compatriot dealt with the small prey that was Hatake Kakashi. He jumped away again, too scared to think about getting close to the growling wolf, not turning his back for a second. He needed to keep both wolves in his sight. Who knew what the dark one was planning while the pale one was attacking? _He_ didn't. And he couldn't afford to make assumptions, despite how scared he was. _

_The pale one snapped his teeth at Kakashi and the boy gulped, feeling sweat dripping down his back. If their pack hadn't found them by now they would. His sweat would give his scent clearly. Of course, one not in Kakashi's predicament might wonder, why hadn't these two indicated to their pack that they had found prey? Wolves communicated with each other about all prey. They don't play with their food, at least not without the rest of their pack. That was how it worked. That was how the pack survived in the cruel world. _

_But he wasn't thinking about that. He didn't know much about wolves except for the fact that they traveled in packs-that and the fact that they were apparently huge—and didn't know what else to think. _

_The pale one lunged, moving faster than Kakashi could think, and he found himself forced onto his back, the wolf pressing his small arms into the ground as its muzzle filled his line of sight, his heartbeat kicking up further in his chest as his eyes widened. He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die right here, right now by being eaten by a wolf. He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die. _

_He didn't want to die. _

_Wait. _

_He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die. HE DIDN'T WANT TO DIE. Not yet. Not tonight. Not in the middle of a forest, all alone, scared. He didn't want to be eaten by a wolf. He didn't want to be eaten, period. What did he want? _

_He…_

_Wanted…_

_To…_

"Kakashi."

He snapped into consciousness, opening one eye to the onyx eyes that could only belong to Uchiha Sasuke. He raised his eyebrow and sat up, slowly and lazily, mostly to keep Sasuke from knowing that he was having something akin to a nightmare. It wasn't exactly one—it was actually a decent memory for him now—but it wasn't one he was keen to have, either. So many years later, and it was still fucking _terrifying_.

"Were we supposed to get up earlier?" Kakashi asked, pulling a small beat-up pocket watch out, checking the time. Only six AM.

"No. I was hoping we could get a move on. I hate wasting time."

"Sasuke, relax," Kakashi said, closing the small travel clock and scratching his cheek through his mask.

The journey—which usually took him a little over eleven hours flat on his own—had been taking them about a week, traveling on the path Kakashi usually took on the way between the orphanage and Konohagakure, which was almost a straight shot, because neither himself or Kiba wanted to stress Sasuke's injuries. Sasuke disliked the fact that they were moving so slowly due to his wounds and as stubborn as he was he kept pushing himself harder and harder. Kakashi understood the frustration, but he also knew that getting Sasuke back to Konoha _alive _would keep him from running the possibility of losing his head to Itachi, Naruto, Hinata, Shisui… or worse, all four of them.

And maybe afterwards Obito and Hanabi could practice calligraphy with senbons and his dead carcass.

"I won't relax. I'm fine."

"You're not and you need to get over the fact that we're taking it slow. Go to your _boyfriend_ Sasuke; I'll be out in a minute," Kakashi said, his tone not allowing any argument though the Uchiha still tried.

"But" was all he got to say before Kakashi gave him an impatient glare. Sasuke scowled, irritated that Kakashi had cut him off with no more than a dirty look and for once did what was requested of him by a superior, walking off. Kakashi sighed, running his hands through his silver locks.

His mind was running with so much information that dealing with an angry Sasuke was the last possible thing on his mind at that very moment. He did want to get back to Konoha as soon as possible—he had so many things that needed to get done before Kabuto decided to lash out again. He needed to get the people closest to him protected, quickly. They were in danger, and he couldn't have that. He didn't want that. He refused to allow that. He wanted them safe. He was a simple man in that regard.

Kakashi rubbed a hand on his chest, the old injury giving off a dull throb not of pain, but of reassurance. He sighed and allowed the feeling to absorb him.

_He's right_, he thought, getting to his feet, not bothering to pull on his ANBU armor again. He walked out of the smallish tent, finding Sasuke leaning against Akamaru, his hand absently rubbing the dog's head. Akamaru had to be the first and only animal that Kakashi had ever seen Sasuke give any real amount of affection towards, and he was also sure that Akamaru ate that attention and affection up.

"Where's loverboy?" Kakashi half-heartedly teased, making Sasuke turn around with a glare.

"Procuring some edibles," responded Sasuke, somehow making the sentence sound like a condescending commentary towards Kakashi's teasing. "When he gets back, I want to leave."

"Good," Kakashi said, yawning.

Sasuke blinked. "What?" he asked.

"I have things to get done in Konoha." He sighed, looking up at the sky. "Is there supposed to be a lunar eclipse tonight?"

"I can't honestly say that I keep track of that kind of thing. What are you trying to get out of that labyrinth you call a mind?"

Kakashi was actually asking a rhetorical question, and he didn't feel the urge to respond to Sasuke's non-rhetoric. Turning on his heel, he walked away slowly, rubbing his pleasantly throbbing chest. Yes. Yes, it was a lunar eclipse tonight. It was tonight. Tonight was the night for this. Tonight was the night. He ignored Sasuke's confused and increasingly annoyed glare, allowing his grey eye to slide shut once more as he rescinded back into his memories, going back to where his dream had left off without problem.

_FIGHT. _

_With a fury he didn't even know he had in him, he screamed at the top of his lungs, throwing the wolf off focus. His chakra crackled, snapping and popping, running like electricity, shocking the wolf. It yelped, loosening its heavy grip just enough for Kakashi to squirm out and get quickly to his feet. Steeling himself, he jumped onto the wolf's back, fisting his free hand in the thick sable fur. _

_The wolf seemed to roar as it ran into a tree, slamming Kakashi's leg against the unforgiving trunk. He heard a loud crunching sound—which, based on the pain he was currently feeling was his right ankle shattering to little pieces. Still, he didn't let go, keeping his grip by biting into the wolf, going past the thick fur and breaking its skin, its blood passing through his teeth and into his mouth. He resisted the urge to swallow, and took no enjoyment in the sounds of agony the wolf made at the injury he inflicted upon it. In fact at the sound of it, Kakashi's heart actually began to hurt. It wasn't pity. Kakashi wasn't one for pity, it was disrespectful thing to do to an opponent even if they were of different species._

_Kakashi's natural lightening affinity took effect, running down his arms in an uninterrupted current, pouring down out of his fingertips and into the wolf. With a bark it collapsed, rolling onto its side and trapping Kakashi's broken ankle underneath him. He yelped out in pain, all of the wolf's blood pouring out of his open mouth as he began pushing against the wolf's back, trying to free his painfully throbbing ankle from under the wolf's heavy body, dropping the kunai to his side as he pushed against the fur-covered back of the wolf. _

_After a large amount of effort he freed himself, not bothering to test if he could get to his feet—his ankle was going to be the size of the balls children his age kicked around in the Academy courtyard, he could tell—and instead stuck to a crouch, picking up the fallen kunai off of the ground and crawling over to the wolf's head, placing the inside slicing edge against what he assumed to be the wolf's throat. Its yellow eyes were off-focus, bleary, and its breathing was low. Kakashi's electrocution was not enough to kill the beast, but it was more than enough for it to be almost like a Tasered human being. _

_Kakashi's breath was heavy, his blood dripping from his chest and into the wolf's fur. He put his knee onto it's ribs, his weight nowhere near enough to even cause this wolf problems breathing. He was no longer intending to hurt, no. Now, his natural curiosity was taking effect as he leaned over as much as possible, looking into its bright yellow eyes. His eyes widened upon realizing what he was seeing. It was scared. It was in pain. He'd caused that pain. He allowed the kunai to slip from his grasp, instead fisting his fingers into the coarse fur, wishing that he had some sort of medical supply to help the wolf even slightly. _

_"And now you kill it." _

_Kakashi looked up, seeing his father standing in front of him, an unreadable look in his dark grey orbs as he looked at his son. Kakashi's brow furrowed with confusion, flitting between his father's tall form and the wolf underneath him. Sakumo sighed, crouching down in front of his son and pushing his finger into the wolf's body. "You kill it, Kakashi. You kill it."_

_"Why?" he whispered. _

_"It tried to kill you. Kakashi." Sakumo shook his head, covering Kakashi's small hand with his own, taking it and placing it on the fallen kunai. "You kill those who try to kill you. Didn't your teachers tell you that?" _

_"This is different," whispered Kakashi in a small voice._

_"It's not. This being tried to kill you. You were at its mercy. You turned it around. It's at your mercy now. You give what it gave you. You… KILL… it. Plain and simple, Kakashi, plain and simple." _

_"B-But… Otōsan…" Kakashi said, stuttering for the first time in his life. _

_"__No buts, Kakashi. You have to kill it." Sakumo pulled a small pocket watch from his back pouch. "It's currently nine-forty-one-PM. You have an hour to kill this wolf. You won't receive medical treatment for your wounds until you kill it, so considering how much blood you're losing, I'd make it quick. If I come back and I find that it's still not dead, I'll kill it myself, and I can't guarantee you won't be behind it very soon after."_

* * *

Shizuka pressed his forehead against the cold metal vertical surface that was the hospital lab's heavy-duty walk in refrigerator, trying treat the pounding headache with the cold of the surface. He would admit, numbing the shit out of his blood vessels and forcing the blood to stay in the concentrated spot in question wasn't exactly the way to go but it was hurting, and when it was numb it didn't. It was as simple as that. He didn't have to think about it. More aptly he didn't have to think about the source of his headache, spread out on the small stretch of lab counter he called his 'space'. No one touched it when he wasn't there and for that he could bless them. Touching it would only leave him more confused about his progress than before-or his lack thereof, more accurately.

When the medical board cleared him to start the process of trying to find a medication that not only stilled the progression of Hanabi's disease but also completely pushed it back, rendering her actually healed rather than this stasis she was in, where she couldn't expend all of her chakra at one time; he'd hoped that he'd be more successful than he was. He wanted her to be healthy again. He wanted to attack this problem like it was a cancer, like the medication was successful chemotherapy. The real hiccup with that idea was, not all chemotherapy was successful against cancer.

He'd gone through about twenty of his possible thirty medications he'd come up with, each one of them proven wrong and not the success he wanted. Some pushed it back for a day or so, but then it returned even more powerful than before, having built immunity to the drug. Some stilled it indefinitely, unlike the current medication she was on, but that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted it _gone. _He wanted that disease out of Hanabi. He wanted it to be a distant memory of hers.

He slammed his throbbing forehead against the metal surface, causing himself more pain than before, but taking his mind off of the headache.

Groaning in pain and mounting irritation, he pulled back, sliding back into his stool and sitting down in front of the microscope, peering back down. It hadn't changed-the former animal cells were all now plant cells. Plain and simple plant cells. He wasn't in a hurry to remove the slide from its holder—he knew when he did, all he would find was a sliver of a wood-like material. There was no difference, now, between this slide and the last seemingly million of them. Failures. All of them. Failures.

Moving slowly, with a tired movement, he opened a drawer by his right leg, pulling out the label pad and black marker, writing the equation he'd created for this newest medication, simultaneously pulling the slide out of the holder, placing the label onto it and placing it into the open box off to the side. He sighed when he closed the box, feeling more weight on his shoulders. He was sick of the failures. Absolutely sick of it. He was better than this. He was a medical shinobi of Konohagakure. He trained under the best medical mind of Sunagakure. He was better than this. He was better than repeated failures.

He took a breath.

In.

Out.

_I'll take this down, _he thought, picking up another slide, determination lighting up his eyes. He was glad that Hanabi been okay with giving him so many samples of her blood. It was good to have something to test the sample medications on.

He knew he was letting this take up all his immediate time but he didn't mind it. He was focused. He was intent on finding a solution. He was intent on getting rid of this problem. He would make this work. He had to. True, it wasn't required. Hanabi told him several times that she didn't mind if she was never free of this disease. But he couldn't let it go. She was his best friend, and she was sick. She saved him from loneliness, and she was sick. He'd have to be an idiot, the most obnoxious motherfucker on the face of the planet, to not attempt this. He'd have to be cruel and selfish. But he wasn't. He couldn't be. Not to Hanabi. She saved him from himself. He had a debt to her, and there was no way in hell he was just going to allow that debt to simply be. He was going to make sure that he would pay her back.

He would completely pay her back. He owed it to her.

She may not be his blood, but she was family.

* * *

Walking with Obito provided relief which, with the recent events, Hanabi desperately needed. .

He was quiet and calm, always bringing in the information of their surroundings and understanding them when she didn't or couldn't. It made him intelligent and also unusual, but it made him an amazing person, especially when he brought the knowledge into a made-up song and sang it for her. His comfort with singing aloud had increased over the seemingly short blissfully-spent days of this new relationship, though he didn't do it until he was sure that they were alone in the area or space before he sung.

He was so insecure when he shouldn't be, but she liked it because it humanized him. It made him the boy she'd fallen in love with. It was because he was imperfect that he was perfect to her. It was the simple fact of it. He was relaxing because he was more human to her than anyone in Konoha, even Shizuka. He was so imperfect that it calmed her. It made her feel adequate. She thought that his imperfections, once added to hers; made them both perfect. Together they were perfect and it was that simple.

However at that moment, he provided no relief to her. She bit her lip, swallowing dryly in apprehension and sadness mixed. She missed Shizuka. She knew that it was wrong of her to be thinking about another boy besides the one she was currently with even if it was one that she thought of only as a brother. But… Shizuka was an exception to that rule.

She'd known Shizuka longer and he was an important part of her, too important to just _forget_, even for an hour or so. Shizuka was her _best friend. _While the entire team considered each other close, and Shizuka often called Obito his best friend, and she called them all her best friends (because it was true); Shizuka was her _best _friend. He was truly her best friend. Their relationship went far beyond any label she could really put on it. The relationship she had with him was more important to her than even her duty as a kunoichi; only second to the love she had for Obito.

She was worried about Shizuka. She hadn't seen him since the party. She'd tried, but every time she came by the flat he shared with Genma, he was either out or passed out on the couch (the way the couch was positioned, she could see his foot hanging off the end, still in the dark brown sandal he'd gotten during his time in Sunagakure). Genma told her he was working on the medicine she kept swearing she didn't really need, and she couldn't convince him to do any different. His heart was set on it, on finding a cure for the _affliction_, as she so fondly called it.

"Hanabi." She sighed, knowing that she'd been off-focus. She couldn't help it, and she wasn't going to try and cover it up. She turned, looking at Obito, who was giving her a worried look. He raised one eyebrow, and spoke one word: "Shizu?"

She sighed again. "I'm honestly worried about him, Obito."

"I know. I understand." He smiled at her. "I think he's at work at the hospital. We can find him. See if he needs help with the medications…"

"I don't…" she sighed, pushing the always stray lock of hair behind her ear half-heartedly, the lock pushing its way back out and into her face, making her glare at it in irritation. Indignant, she growled at it as she pushed it behind her ear again. Whatever threat she was trying to make didn't work—it merely popped right back out, as irritating as always. "I don't want to bother him."

"Liar," he said softly, taking a step towards her and crossing his arms over his chest. "You're a bad liar. You're adverse when it comes to the topic of the cure to your disease. So what is it about it that so scares you? The idea of getting a permanent cure for it? Or having to confront that it's happening?"

She glared up at him. "I know it's happening, Obito."

"You misunderstand me, Hanabi. I'm not looking to start a fight. I'm simply curious. Why don't you ever want to talk to us about it?" he asked, taking another step closer.

She bit her lip and looked away. "I… I don't want you guys to feel like you have to do this. I'm fine with the treatment plan I have already. I'm healthy. I'm alive. I'm not dying—well, no more than I am every passing day, what with that fickle thing called aging."

He smiled softly. "Hanabi, you told me once that Sasuke puts a capper on your chakra level. Are you currently sealed right now?"

She exhaled slowly. "Not sealed. There's a correlation between how much extra chakra I spend and the spreading of the wood. Sasuke put a cap on it so I'd be limited to the amount of stamina I have in a direct parallel. If I do light training I don't need it. I can control myself. Most of my techniques are taijutsu, anyways, so extra expenditure is not a worry of mine except for when I'm fighting people who are on people like Sasuke's level and beyond. Naturally, taijutsu also doesn't use a lot of my stamina either way, so I'm safe."

His smile saddened slightly. "And… do you really want to live your life like that? Capping your chakra at all times when you're so capable of so much more should it be at its natural height?" She blinked, looking at him with a furrowed brow. "Hanabi, you shouldn't be constrained because of this. You shouldn't be confined too something like this. You deserve to be more than this. This is something that was placed so unfairly upon you, Hanabi."

"It had to be placed on someone. I'm glad it wasn't on Hinata," she whispered. "I wasn't meant to use Wood-attuned ninjutsu. It's as simple as that Obito, and I've accepted that."

"You shouldn't have to. That's all me and Shizuka believe, Hanabi. That's all. We want… we want you to live your life as completely as it's possible to. You shouldn't be constrained to this." He bit his lip, grabbing her hand. "I know that someday these drugs you're taking won't be enough. I'll lose you to this sickness someday. That… that isn't the way this should be. I should get you for… well, forever." His romantic view on everything about her is so adorable that sometimes, she honestly believed she could cry. "I want you for a long time. Longer than this will allow."

"Everyone dies someday, Obito," she whispered, "Skin gets cold… the bone crumbles and turns to ash that drift with the wind and the currents of the waves… blood turns brown and dries up… eyes once filled with light slowly glaze over with lifelessness…"

"Stop," he responded gritting his teeth. "I know how it works. I know how death works. I know it comes for everyone eventually. But I don't want it to come for you as soon as possible. Death is becoming for no one, especially not you. _Life_ is becoming of you. And I want you to live a full and happy life, Hanabi, whether it be with me or not, whether it be with me as a friend or with me being… yours. This stops you from doing that."

"People die all the time," she said, "Sickness is a part of life. Dying is a part of life. I can live despite these things."

"Hanabi, if you can get better than this, wouldn't you want to?" he asked softly, licking his lips. "Be fully healed…?"

"I do. I'm not an idiot. I do. But… I… I don't want anyone to freak out when they try to do that for me. I don't want to cause headaches and agitation and anger because they can't do this for me."

"Headaches and agitation and anger would just be steps on the way to achieving this."

She sighed, and then smiled tiredly. "We have different views, okay? And that's fine. That's perfectly alright. I've come to terms with being like this. I'm happy. But… I can't sit around and watch you guys drive yourself nuts over something I've accepted a long time ago. It's unfair to me to have to do that and be able to do nothing and it's unfair to you to have to watch me sit and be sad because I can't help you stop this." She reached up and pushed his hair behind his ear. "I love you. I love you guys. I can't sit and watch you guys go crazy for me. I miss Shizu but I can't see him if he's working at this. It'll piss me off and all I'll do in response is make him feel like he's doing it for nothing. It's unfair. I can't do that to my best friend."

"So you'd rather miss him than go see him?" asked Obito incredulously, confused by Hanabi's words, which starkly contrasted the person he believed her to be.

To his dismay she nodded and replied, "Yes. I don't want to be pissed at Shizuka for trying to help me. I'd rather miss him than be mad at him. It hurts me a lot less to miss him than to be mad at him." She rubbed the back of her head. "I can't explain it to you, Obito. This was… this was the way I was brought up. People outside the Hyūga clan call it cruelty. They say we truly don't know the meaning of having a friend. We call it living. We call it keeping a friend. I only do what I've been taught. I'm sorry if that makes you think any less of me but I can't just go and cause myself pain. I can't force myself to somewhat lessen his efforts because I don't agree with the means."

He sighed, his face filled with pain. "I can't honestly say that's something I wanted to hear."

She sighed as well. " I won't lie and say someday you'll understand. This isn't something you can understand. But…" She moved closer to him and grabbed him by the hand, gripping it tightly. "Think of it this way. Even without sickness everyday is day I may die. Every single damned one. I'm a shinobi, a kunoichi at that. I'm the one they send undercover to seduce gang lords and general bad people. I'm the one that a majority of bad guys, whether robbers or the targets, tend to rape and torture the most when one is caught. Death is closer for women than it is for men. My death will probably be from being a shinobi… not from being sick."

Obito winced and pulled his hands away, confusing her. "Your chance of dying is increased more when you're with me," he said.

"That's… that's not what I was saying!"

"I know. That's what _I'm_ saying. I have my moods under control, but all this talk of you dying only makes me pissed. It only makes me feel weak and powerless, and that's not a good thing. Just… GOD!" He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes. "Everything about your life endangers you, and the one thing that doesn't, you're avoiding because you just so happen to dislike it!"

"That's not what I said, either!"

"You don't fucking _have to, Hanabi_!" he snapped angrily, making her flinch with surprise at his sudden fury. "People are targeted around me, and you're right, kunoichi _don't _live notoriously long lives. They live tragically short lives, and your sickness only amplifies how damned short your gender tend to live in this world! You're _fifteen_, Hanabi, _fifteen_! You should be fighting for your right to live! You've allowed this sickness to make you its _bitch_ and that's not the way it should be! Where's the Hanabi who would've pushed her limits every day to build up immunity or something; where's the Hanabi that would be spending every night fighting this thing? I don't fucking see her right now in you!"

She did her best to remain level, but she felt like Obito was twisting her words around. I was if he was looking to fight with her about this, about not going to see Shizuka. Why couldn't he just accept it? If he loved her, shouldn't he just accept it? "People grow up, Obito," she growled.

"Shinobi grow quicker. We both know you peaked in your maturity years ago. This isn't being a mature young adult. This is being a pussy."

"_Fuck you_! I am _not_ a pussy, ass-hat!"

"You are. You _are_ a pussy. You're afraid of dying, so you're pretending that you don't give a shit. You're scared to be scared of dying. I can't respect you for that. Fear is a part of being human. Being afraid of being afraid is what I hate, because it stops one from being themselves." He turned around, walking away from her. "You can come by me when my confident firework feels up to play. Until then… until then, I don't even see my Hanabi in you right now. I want her."

"I _am_ Hanabi! You're just a goddamned moron!" she screamed, falling into the fight. "I _never_ said any of those things! I _never_ said you were a threat! I _never_ said that I enjoy this! I've just accepted that _someday I'm going to die_!"

"You're fifteen. You shouldn't have to," he muttered.

Her eyes widened, and she pointed at him with a shaking finger. "You have, you _fucking hypocrite_! You've accepted you're going to die someday! Why can't I do the same thing, as your equal—"

"I'm not your equal." He turned slightly, his brown eyes betraying no emotion. "We're two very different individuals, Hanabi. You are supposed to be so much _better_ than me. You're supposed to be my light. You're supposed to be my firework. You're supposed to be an exploding flame that I'm afraid to snuff out with my vacuum of darkness. The one I stand close to in order to feel warm. I don't fear death because I am the cause of it. Killers can't fear what they are." He looked up at the sky. "You're supposed to fear it, because you're purity. That's what you are to me, purity." He chuckled to himself. "This argument had nothing to do with you."

"Yeah, I could tell," she muttered, "Can we please continue our walking, now?"

"… No."

"No?!"

"No. I… I'm going to help Shizuka," he sighed, turning his face from her. "I'm going to help him preserve you. There need to be more people like you in this world, Hanabi. It can't afford to lose you. That's all I'm really mad about. I want you to stay in this world for as long as possible. It's where you belong." She could see the smile from where she stood. "And maybe it's a little bit of greediness. Maybe it's because… because I want that purity for as long as possible, for myself. It's selfish, I know, but… I want to live the rest of my godless life with that god-filled purity."

She blinked. "Did you just call me… an angel?"

He nodded, beginning to walk away. "And I am a shinigami, going exactly against his natural element."

She watched him with wide eyes, and then smiled, not noticing that she was crying even slightly. "You're no shinigami," she whispered, mostly to herself as she watched him, not realizing that her whisper was loud enough for him to hear her plainly. She watched him walk for about thirty steps, and then made a decision which went against her beliefs—she followed him.

Nara Obito, in that exact moment, became the first and _only_ person that Hyūga Hanabi would willingly concede an argument to.

* * *

The sound of wood hitting wood rang through the Hyūga compound more than the sound of metal hitting metal. Members of the household felt themselves drawn to such an unfamiliar sound, those who were able to hear the unusual sound made the trip to find its source, and they all tended to stay upon realizing where the sound originated from.

The compound's inner courtyard had always been used for training of some sort, as well as general relaxation. Members of the household passed by the courtyard often, despite what may be going on. However, this case was different and, therefore, exciting. It was unusual to see the particular ninjutsu art being practiced at that moment, and therefore, definitely entertaining. They were even making bets upon the winner—their heiress, or their heiress' lover? It was truly a hard bet to make.

Kankurō grinned at her as he curled his pinky finger, Crow lashing out at the young indigo-haired woman. Hinata smiled at him, moving her middle and index fingers apart and together in a swift motion as she moved away, her only puppet coming up and capturing Crow in its hand, pushing off Kankurō's attack. The puppet, which Hinata had named Katsuryoku, lunged at Crow as soon as it pushed him back, its hand turning into a sharpened stake of wood due to Hinata's other bloodline. Kankurō was nonplussed, twitching his thumb just slightly in order to unsheathe Crow's wrist blade, turning the small puppet fight into a show of true grace and swordsmanship on both their parts.

Even Hiashi was watching. Though he didn't agree with his daughter's choice to practice the puppet arts (he was traditional at least in the sense that his daughter's best ninja skill should be in the Gentle Fist on which their clan made their name known to the shinobi realm) he would admit that he enjoyed seeing the amount of pleasure Hinata derived from practicing it.

She grinned cheekily at her fiancé as she kept up her offensive, her eyes flitting between him and her puppet, whereas he could easily look away from her. Kankurō was definitely skilled in this art, proving to Hiashi that he was a valuable shinobi to have on his side. Kankurō could kill someone without even looking. He could fight a formidable opponent without totally focusing on them—as long as he was fighting with the puppeteer arts.

"Hiashi-sama, who're you putting your money on?" Neji asked with a small smile as Hayato pressed his hands against the railing, watching the two shinobi intently, dark grey eyes wide, his bluish silver hair wafting slightly in the light breeze.

"I put my money on Hinata, of course," he said, smirking. _I can't put my money on him; I hate him. Even if I think he's a good shinobi. I hate him. _

"Why not Kankurō?" asked Hayato, confused.

Neji grinned as Tenten came from behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "It's not something you'll understand so easily, having always known Hinata as she is with him. My money's on her, too." He would admit it. He was _still_ a helicopter sibling.

Tenten giggled. "You two are silly. I agree with you, but you're still silly. Don't mind them, Hayato; they're just two idiots," she said affectionately, kissing Neji's shoulder. Hiashi half-heartedly glared over at his nephew's wife, smiling despite himself. He knew full well it was something silly and petty. But he couldn't help it, and neither could Neji. "Maybe if you had a sister or something, you'd understand."

Hayato frowned. "But I do have a sister; two. Nata-nee and Nabi-nee."

Neji chuckled. "He does do it all the time with Hanabi." Hiashi resisted his urge to tip his head back and laugh. It was true. Hayato didn't trust any member of the male gender around Hanabi. When Obito dropped off Hanabi late the other night, Hayato had immediately lectured the older boy, berating him for being irresponsible and beating Hiashi to the punch. It'd been quite amusing, and he had a laugh about it.

Tenten smiled wider. "I can't explain it to you, then. You're too young to see it yourself." Hayato pouted, his eyes still on the sight before him. His pout turned into a frown, and he squinted. Hiashi, now watching Hayato instead of the fight, frowned as well, confused as to why Hayato was squinting when he could see just fine-in fact, better than fine. A flicker of red flashed in his eyes, making Hiashi's eyes widen in surprise before Hayato pushed himself up on the railing, practically standing on it, drawing Neji and Tenten's attention as well.

"Nata-neechan! Dodge to your left!" he yelled abruptly, making the girl in question flinch. Kankurō blinked in surprise, but found it too late to take back the attack he was making. Crow's head disconnected from its body and flew it at Hinata. Hinata saw the attack now and listened to what Hayato ordered her to do; jumping to the side and pulling Katsuryoku in her place, making the puppet reach out and attempt to impale Crow's head. Kankurō pulled back on the string, but he dropped it instead of attacking, his eyes searching for the boy behind the distinct voice. Hayato blinked at the look the people around him were giving him, not knowing what was wrong with what he'd done.

"Continue your spar, Hinata," said Hiashi coolly as Neji snapped into automatic robotic mode, grabbing the eight-year-old by the waist and pulling him down from the railing, making him yelp and struggle. Hinata watched, eyes wide in surprise, as did Tenten. "Neji. Let's take him to my study," Hiashi muttered to his nephew, who merely nodded in response.

Kankurō's frown deepened. Maybe he was going crazy, but… but it seemed like Hayato had anticipated his attack. Well, no. Not anticipated. Anticipated would insinuate he saw into his mind. No, it was more like… like he'd seen it happening before it did. As if the world had sped up before his eyes in a moment before… he blinked and looked over at Hinata, who seemed to come to the exact same realization he seemed to be coming to, her pale lavender eyes wide.

"I'll pack. You go see. I'll meet you there as soon as I finish," he said, releasing the chakra coming from his fingertips, making the puppet drop to the ground, lifeless.

Hinata did the same, Katsuryoku falling in a lifeless heap only a few feet away. She heard the clan members groan in disappointment, but she ignored it, finding more important things that were worthy of her attention at the moment. She past Kankurō, stopping for a brief moment to fleetingly press her lips onto his painted cheek before continuing on into the house, pushing her way past her multiple fellow clansmen, activating her Byakugan in order to figure out where'd they gone. They couldn't have gone very far so quickly, could they? No, that couldn't be possible-

"Hinata?"

She blinked, turning her attention to the familiar, yet out-of-place chakra signature in front of her. She deactivated her Byakugan, knowing that she needed to focus on what was in front of her rather than the entire complex. "Oh. Um. Hi, Kakashi."

* * *

_**So. Yeah. **_

_**I'M SO HAPPY THAT PEOPLE LIKE **__**THE RIPPLE EFFECT**_

_**LIKE FUCK YEAH**_

_**O,O**_

_**BUT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THIS STORY **_

_**IT MAKES ME WANNA CRY**_

_**/.\ **_

_**LET'S GET THIS MORE POPULAR THAN **__**THE RIPPLE EFFECT**_

_**IT'S A COMPETITION**_

_**PLS? MAKE AN AUTHORESS HAPPY? **_

_**Rant aside, I'm not very proud of the ObiHana scene. It was okay, but not amazing. I dislike it. It could've been better. Anyone agree? Review on it. It really is open for revision. **_**:|**

**_To _****_sailorangelmoon1_****_: I knoooow. It's horrible. I'm gonna be stressed, I know. But I'm still gonna work on this story (though _****_The Ripple Effect_****_ has taken a bit of the forefront of my mind). Hehe, again, glad you like Obito._**


	21. Chapter 20: Solitude

**_I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!_**

* * *

_SOLITUDE_

_/'sälə,t(y) ōōd/_

_the state or situation of being alone; a lonely or uninhabited place [lone: having no companions: solitary or single; lacking the support of others, isolated]._

* * *

**_I HATE THIS TOWN. _**_He grabbed his head, clasping his throbbing forehead in his tight grip as he closed his eyes, resisting the urge to cry. __**I HATE THIS TOWN. **__The villagers glared at him, their hatred made more than known to the young boy with not only the harsh looks he was given, but by the words they spoke. _

_"Monster," spoke one. _

_"Demon," spoke another. _

_He didn't understand why he'd been given this treatment. _

**_IT'S SO WASHED UP. I HATE THIS TOWN. _**_He curled in on himself, trying to get rid of the pain he was feeling, but it wasn't working. It just wouldn't work. Nothing would work. No amount of holding his head, no amount of crying, no amount of begging would make the hatred stop. What had he done so wrong? Why couldn't he remember doing it wrong? Why wouldn't they let him fix what he did wrong?__** GUESS **_**I'M****_ WHAT'S ALWAYS WRONG. I HATE THIS TOWN. IT'S SO WASHED UP. _**_He dug his nails so deeply into his skin that he drew blood. It went onto his cuticles and seemed to stain his nails bloody red. He didn't care, nor did the people who glared at him. What was he worth to them? They'd be happy if he died. They'd be ecstatic. There'd be a festival thrown in the honor of his death, wouldn't there? He could see it now. He curled in further and shut his eyes tight. Maybe if he couldn't see it, it wouldn't be so. _

_"Monster." _

**_I'm sorry. _**

_"Go die."_

**_I'm sorry. _**

_"Why were you born?" _

**_I don't know, and I'm sorry I was. _**

_"Why can't you leave?" _

**_I want to, but where else would I go?_**

_"I hate you." _

**_I hate me, too. I'm sorry. I hate this town. _**

_"Die, demon!"_

**_It's so washed up. _**

_"Burn in hell." _

"SHUT UP!"_A voice that wasn't his own, for once, spoke, and he wasn't sure it was to him. He opened one blue eye to the back of a person with messy red hair, their fists tightly clenched at their sides, the rain water dripping from their locks. The crowd was gathered around her, well, actually the pair of them; him and her, her and him. The two of them. "Leave him _alone_! What did he do to _you_, huh? What did he _ever_do to you?" _

**_Stop it. _**

_"You don't know what you're talking about, brat." _

**_He's right. I'm a monster. I deserve this. They hate me, and I hate them. You're wasting your time on a cause that was lost since it began its miserable little life. _**

_"Stop _talking down_to him! It's _cruel_and it's unnecessary! You _jerks_!" _

**_No. It's necessary… _**

_"He never did _anything_to any of you! You're just idiots! _Morons_!" _

**_Stop talking stop talking stop talking stop talking stop—_**

_A man kicked the girl in the side, making them drop to the side, and they moved to get at him. They were all angry, so angry, that he'd somehow managed to turn someone against the village. It was a war of them versus him, and he'd spent enough time on the streets to know that he was supposed to lose every battle. Every fight. Every moment. He was the bad guy, the villain from those bad Saturday morning cartoons he sometimes caught a peep of through the crack in the door at the orphanage he lived in. Even there, surrounded by people like him, he was alone. Pushed away. Hated. The same hatred lit up this man's eyes as he moved to strike at him. Moved to hurt him. Why was it necessary to hurt him? Why? He didn't know. All he knew was what she'd done, however valiant, had provoked it. _

**_No. Why did she have to do that? She made everything worse! She's not the masked man! They're not scared of _****her****_!_**

_He curled tighter, closing his blue eyes again. Sudden warmth covered his body, making him open his eyes again. The girl was laying over him, the first kick hitting her in the back. She cried out in pain, but she kept her body over him. Taking every hit. Every punch. Every spewed word of hatred. She took it as if it held no weight. But it did. He knew it did. He'd received it often. They all hurt. They all stung. They all ached. They all pained. He could almost feel the pain she was receiving in his stead. _

_He was sorry. So sorry. So sorry that she had to take all these hits. All these kicks. All this hatred. He was sorry he was so scared to talk back, to fight back. He was always too scared to do it. It was why he was such an easy target for the villager's hatred. They could get away with it, and he just wouldn't fight back. He didn't know how to fight back. He was a child. Should he know? _

_**I hate this town. I'm sorry that they hate me. I'm sorry I can't tell you to stop protecting me. I'm sorry I'm so selfish that I want you to. I'm sorry I need you to. I'm sorry I'm so weak that I need you to help me. **_

_Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the kicks and the punches and the words and the anger gradually came to a stop, and they were both ignored, the rain dropping onto them mercilessly. He carefully moved from under her and turned her around, her eyes half-closed and half-lit, but still aware, still somehow conscious. He stared down at her for a moment before he pushed the red locks behind her ear, his brow furrowing as he looked down at her. _

_She looked up at him, her eyes betraying absolutely no feeling except for pain. Her eyes intrigued him. Brown, with small flecks of almost invisible green, and large. So large, almost too large for her small face, but pretty. She was pretty to him. Maybe it was because she wasn't glaring at him as if he was the scum of the earth that she seemed pretty to him. He didn't know why. But she was. She was beautiful, even with the bruises and cuts and possibly broken bones and blood. _

_He didn't bother to resist the urge to cry as he pulled a small, slightly dirty and definitely dampened handkerchief out of his back pocket, wiping the blood dripping down her forehead. He was amazed by her gall, but… that was dangerous. That was so dangerous. She could've been killed. He knew it, and she probably did, too. That was what was shaking him up. Did all people who stood up for him run the possibility of dying? Where did that make sense? Where was that fair? _

_"Why would you help me?" he finally managed to say. _

_She finally showed something other than pain. He expected it to be hatred, but he was surprised pleasantly. _

_It was a half-lit smile. _

_Probably the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen before in his life. _

_"Because it's not right."_

_"It's what it is."_

_"Well, it's not right. You're not what that they call you." _

_He opened his mouth to refute that, but someone yanked the girl out of his hands, screaming at her before she got a chance to speak against it, or even thinking about it. He stared, gape-mouthed at the public display of an unhappy family, which he could plainly see in the shared messy red locks atop their heads. He knew they existed, but… but it wasn't right. She didn't deserve to be unhappy. She needed to be happy, otherwise then… then the world wasn't good at all. It would be absolute shit, all the time, everywhere, and he needed the world to be somewhat perfect somewhere to make up for the fact that his life was shit. That his life sucked. _

_He got up and fought back, for the very first time—he pushed the adult off of her, making him land in the mud. If it got him more beatings by villagers, then so be it. If it got him more abuse, then it would get him more abuse. He wouldn't fight it. Why would he fight it? _

_**I hate this town either which way. **_

_"Stop," she whispered to him, immediately capturing his attention. He turned to her, eyes wide in surprise, not realizing they were turning bright red with anger. She smiled again. "It's okay."_

_"You shouldn't be hit," he replied. Since when was he an official on that? _

_"You shouldn't either." _

_**Yes, I should. I'm the town pariah.**_

_"Don't give me that look. You shouldn't. You shouldn't. It's not fair." _

_**I should. I should. Unfair, yes. But it's needed. **_

_"You're a good person. You've just got bad luck is all." She shrugged. "I have bad luck, too. But that's okay. Because nothing lasts forever. It'll change someday. The pain we feel will go away someday." _

_**Why can't it be today? Why couldn't it change today? Why did it have to stay as **_**now****_? _**

_"When? A-And by who?" She seemed to have all the answers, at least to him. It only made sense to ask the questions. "W-Who'll change stuff like that? And how?" _

_She smiled. "I don't know when," she said honestly, "But who… only people like you and me can change something like this. People who understand pain, understand loneliness, can change that. And how… I don't know, either. But when it happens, you'll know." The adult stood up, pushing him to the side roughly and grabbing her by the hair, making her scream out in pain as he dragged her along. "Don't give up! I won't if you won't! Promise me! PROMISE ME!" _

"I promise!" Naruto yelled out as he snapped into consciousness, his arms flailing as he fell off of his bed, having been tossing and turning so much that he'd been on the edge when he literally jolted into awareness.

He landed hard on the cold, unforgiving hardwood ground of his apartment, groaning in pain and shivering with frigidness. When had he lost heat? He didn't know but he needed it back. Nights were only getting colder. Autumn was kicking ass this year. Naruto stared up at the faraway ceiling with unfocused blue eyes wide as they tried to take in information.

"I promise. I promise."

He'd been having that dream every night for the past few weeks, and it was really beginning to get on his nerves. Why couldn't he get a different one? Why did he have to keep redreaming that same sequence over and over, with _that girl _plaguing his very thoughts? Why such a depressing dream? Why such an inspiring nightmare? Why did he have to dream of her and him, him and her; in such a state of desperation?

It'd been a long time since he had that dream. So long, in fact, that he'd nearly forgotten that it was a memory and possibly one of the best ones he had. True, it had dark tones but then again, that was the tone of his entire life. What made that memory the best wasn't one he knew how to explain, nor could even quantify for himself. It was just a good memory. It made him feel so amazing. Why? Because _that_ had been the first time anyone who wasn't wearing a mask (which he found out later was the ANBU) had stuck up for him when he was getting beaten. It was the first time he'd learned that fighting back was _always_ an option. It was the first time he realized that the only way things would ever change was to fight against it with every _ounce_ of his being.

It was when his ambition to become the Hokage had begun. That girl had planted that seed within him, so long ago. It'd been because of her that he became the Uzumaki Naruto that he was. Sure, it'd taken a while for him to become that person and it'd been with help of multiple people, but if she hadn't been there to push him down that road, he doubted he would've found it by himself. He would've walked on. He would've been the miserable little fuck he used to be. The scaredy-cat he was.

However, his question was why _that _dream? Good dream or not, it always left him shaken. It always did something to him afterwards—what, he wasn't quite sure. But it did. It simply just did. It affected him more than any other dream he had, both negatively and positively. It was just _that _powerful. He would ask the Kyūbi but he knew that it would only give him backward responses with the only purpose to confuse him more.

A grumbling voice with distinct sarcastic tinting reverberated through his skull. **_Kit, that hurts my feelings_**.

_Didn't even realize you were awake. I haven't talked to you in weeks,_ Naruto thought, pulling himself off of the ground, stretching slowly. It wasn't even that late but he lacked the motivation to get out of bed that morning… and that afternoon… and now this evening. He'd been asleep on and off, depressed that he'd freaked out that girl so horribly. It felt so long ago, but it still hurt him to know that he'd scared her off like that. He really hadn't meant to. He just lost control of his lust and his body for a second and _that _happened.

**_I'm always awake, and I'm always asleep. _**

_See why I called you backwards? How the _fuck_ does that even make sense? _

Kurama chuckled to himself. **_It'd make sense if you were smarter, Kit. Are you still depressed about that girl? _**

_Fuck you. I don't have to tell you anything_, he responded, hating the dig at his intelligence level.

**_You can't hide anything from me, jackass; we share the same body. I know you're depressed. _**

_So what if I am? _

**_It's irritating. You're better than this, moron. Follow your instincts. _**

_I am not '_better'_ than this. 'Following my instincts' is what got me into this mess. I haven't seen her at all. She's avoiding me, _Naruto grumbled in response, his anger seeping in, as well as images of her scared, wide eyes. Those beautiful eyes. Those perfect eyes that he'd chased away by teasing her, by playing with her.

What had come over him that he'd done that? He never teased anyone like that. He had a lack of a romantic life. He had zero sexual experiences, except with those accidental kisses with Sasuke and those few pecks that he got told several women laid on him that he couldn't remember. How had he known to do that? And why did he think it was a good idea to tease her, to play with her? He didn't _know _her, and she didn't know him. They were practically strangers. So why was it so hard for him to keep calm around her, to keep a level head? Why did all he want to do was tease her and protect her? To be her guard, and… to be her… lover…? What the hell was wrong with him?

**_Kit, you're so stupid, _**Kurama chuckled.

Naruto blinked. _EH?! _

**_I said, you're stupid, Naruto. I said it quite clearly. _**

_I'm not stupid! _

**_Yes, you are stupid, Naruto, so stupid it's almost painful. It's so painfully obvious what's wrong with you. _**

_I-It is?! _

**_…_****_I think you're the only person I've ever met to actually _****stutter****_ in his own thoughts. Congratulations. You're officially worse than how Hyūga Hinata used to be. _**

_Shut it! Tell me what's wrong with me, you stupid-ass fox! _

Whether or not Kurama was going to speak, Naruto didn't know. He didn't know if Kurama was even going to tell him the truth or just some backwards response that probably only made sense to cryptologists or Shino and Shikamaru. Probably not, he figured, but he was annoyed all the same when something knocked against his window. Turning around, he saw the shape of a familiar duck-butt out of his window.

Irritation immediately dissipating, he clambered to get to the window, quickly pushing it open and sticking his head out.

"Teme! You're back, 'ttebayo!" Naruto crowed happily.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, as did his lips in an upwards direction, which Naruto knew was the closest thing he would ever get to an 'I miss you too' from the Uchiha. "Dobe," he said coolly, "Get dressed. We're doing something tonight."

"Sure!" Naruto agreed immediately, not asking any questions. He needed to feel better about himself, and he also needed advice. What better place to get both from than his best friend? He grinned at Sasuke, unwittingly surprising Sasuke with the lack of questions and suspicion he usually had, and said excitedly, "Just give me a minute, I'll be done quickly!"

Naruto closed the window too quickly, not giving the Uchiha a moment to ask him if he was okay—which Sasuke could plainly see he wasn't. Before he opened the window, he saw pain in Naruto's expression, pain he was all too familiar with but didn't expect to see in his friend.

Sasuke looked up at the moon. "I've been gone for all of two weeks. When did Naruto find the time to fall in love?" he asked aloud, mostly to himself.

He sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead, shrugging his shoulders. In the end, 'when' didn't truly matter. What mattered was that although in love, he was unhappy. That, Sasuke couldn't have. Naruto unhappy was a depressing sight for everyone, especially him. Naruto was supposed to have a perpetual shit-eating grin fixated on his face at all times. He knew that smile used to hide bad things, but now it was honest. Now, it spoke volumes about his happiness. It'd taken a long time for that to happen, and he'd be damned if he saw such progress go out the window over _love_. No, he couldn't have that. That wouldn't do at all.

He needed to help them out.

He felt like such a fag right now, thinking about playing love doctor. God, if his father could see him now. Uchiha Sasuke, love doctor. He was probably rolling over in his theoretical grave right now, laughing his ass off at the situation Sasuke was about to get himself into. He had about as much romantic knowledge as a rock—well, slightly more now that Kiba was with him. The dog-nin did not know how to keep his hands to himself, something Sasuke was surprisingly okay with. It gave him his own ample opportunities to mark the man, giving him hickeys on any available skin he found himself near.

_Stop thinking about Kiba! _Sasuke chastised himself as he watched Naruto trip as he pulled on his black sweatpants, sighing to himself. If he thought about Kiba and that devilishly good mouth of his (which he looked forwards to experiencing more of in the future) he wouldn't be able to focus on the task at hand. He wouldn't be able to think clearly while attempting to get Naruto what he wanted—reciprocated love.

* * *

Hayato was worried about his father. Kankurō could see it plainly etched into his small face as his dark grey eyes looked up at Kakashi, whose facial coverings made it hard for the standard person to interpret his emotions regularly. The emotional mask he put up made it impossible for anyone, even his own son, to tell what he was thinking, what he was feeling. He could see how that could worry Hayato—according to Hinata, Kakashi was usually quite straightforward with the eight-year-old, more so than with anyone else. Not many secrets existed between the two of them.

The growing list of secrets seemed to be getting at him right now. There were just so many things about Kakashi that Hayato doubted he knew, and Kankurō could see how that may worry him. Hell, it worried him, too. He only knew the bare minimum of what Hinata could tell him about her mentor, and he knew that she knew a hell of a lot more than the bare minimum. Kakashi was one mysterious entity when he wanted to be, and it seemed that he definitely wanted to be right now. What he was thinking, he didn't know, and he also wasn't sure he really wanted to know. He trusted Kakashi enough to know that if he wasn't spewing right now, there was a reason behind it.

He knew that Hayato probably knew that, too, but that didn't mean he couldn't be apprehensive about it nonetheless, could it? He was eight, after all. He was allowed to be a little bit scared and worried. At least, that was what Hinata had told him how normal childhoods should be. He didn't know anything about that and as far as he knew nor did Hinata. They'd both had rather tough non-childhoods from the get-go. Worry and fear was weakness in his house. Weakness was eradicated in the worse ways possible.

With his aching, scarred-and-gloved right hand, he gently shook Hayato's shoulder, making the boy turn to face him.

"Don't worry," he said softly, "Nothing bad is happening."

"How do you know?" whispered Hayato, his brows furrowing.

He smirked, pulling his hand away and removing his glove, showing Hayato his kanji burn that his father had been as so cruel to leave upon him, knowing that the shiver that wracked through Hayato's body was not in disgust of him, but rather than the apparent mistreatment that Kankurō had gone through in his life.

"Because your father is _nothing_ like my father was."

Hayato stared at the burn in Kankurō's palm, his mouth opening and closing, no words coming out. Worry was evident on his small face, and Kankurō continued to smile at him. Being with Hinata all these years had made him grow enough to be proud of the scars that marked his body, not ashamed of them. He was proud to have gone through what he had in his childhood. He was proud to have survived it. Those scars were what made him the person he was, and they would never go away. Each mark showed how much pain he could take. Each scar showed how much he toiled. Each burn showed how much he anguished. Hinata had been the salve that had taken away the pain, or at least made it bearable. These scars made him the person he was, the person he had to be in order to meet Hinata, and the person he had to become in order to keep her.

"You've nothing to worry about, Hayato. If your father hides something from you, it's because he needs to, not because he wants to. Your father loves you so much. He spoils you. He wants you to think good of the world," Kankurō said, rubbing the silvery blue mop on top of the youngest Hatake's head, making him crack a small grin before it fell.

"I know the world is bad already though," he murmured.

"We all do. But you're eight, in a new generation. You're not supposed to know that kind of thing yet; you're too young," said Kankurō, doing his best to reassure the boy. Hayato swallowed and nodded again, smiling at him once more.

Hayato wrapped his skinny arms around his body, trying to stave off the coldness of the night. Autumn was unforgiving this year. Usually, he would sidle up with either Kakashi or Hinata for warmth, but both seemed to be lost in their own worlds, distracted. It was cause for concern, and he didn't know how to approach it, either. He felt so young, and so stupid, and so-

He blinked in surprise as he felt a heavy arm lean on his shoulders, pulling him into a warm body. He looked up at the puppeteer with wide eyes, surprised that Kankurō was allowing physical contact. He wasn't very big on it, except with Hinata. He understood why—his trade called for non-contact approaches to people and situations—and he'd grown used to the reason.

"Why're you touching me?"he asked, confused.

"'Cause you're cold, stupid," Kankurō replied easily, rubbing the bridge of his painted nose. "I can't just watch you be frigid. You need some meat on those bones of yours, brat."

Hayato blinked, and then giggled.

"Kankurō-kun, you're… you're a _really_ weird guy."

"Yeah, well… you're weird, too, Hayato."

Kakashi watched on with carefully hidden interest, watching his son grow closer to the puppeteer. He knew that he was responsible for the worry Hayato was feeling, and it killed him on the inside he couldn't do more to soothe him. The ceremony called for the ones going through with it to be on their own. He'd done it, and now Hayato had to. He rubbed his chest again through his blue shirt, turning away from the two of them and looking up at the sky. Yes. Yes, it was most definitely a lunar eclipse tonight. He almost wanted to howl himself, up at the moon.

Hinata noticed the tensing of Kakashi's body, her brow furrowing as she wondered if it was from uneasiness or excitement, or a mixture of the two. She didn't make any assumptions—she knew better than that—and wrapped her arms tighter around her legs, trying to dissect Kakashi with her eyes. He was being stunningly cold towards everyone; not just Hayato, though he seemed the most hurt by it. Kakashi wouldn't tell anyone what he was thinking and it was worrying her.

She gently bit the material of her dark blue sweater, knowing if she didn't she might be inclined to put a lock of her hair between her teeth, a disgusting habit she just couldn't seem to outgrow for the life of her, even now that those locks of hair were no longer in her face. She was nervous. She was lucky she wasn't pushing her fingers together or biting her lip or stuttering, actually. Even all these years later, she still didn't have a good control on her nervous habits. Old habits die hard.

"Hinata-chan!"

Thankfully, she didn't flinch, turning towards the orange-garbed Uzumaki whom she had easily identified based on the sound of his voice. He jumped down from the tree he was perched in, landing right next to her in a crouch.

"Hi, Naruto-kun," she whispered in a small voice.

"Hi," he returned brightly, "Why're you curled in on yourself like that? You look like you're trying to make yourself into a ball or something!"

Sasuke, silent as ever, wasn't noticed until he smacked Naruto upside the head.

"Idiot," he hissed as Naruto grabbed the back of his head. Hinata gave a small smile. The relationship between the two hadn't changed in the least, thank God. They were still in a hate-love frenemy-brother relationship that amused her to no end.

Kakashi sighed as he stood up, uncharacteristically uptight.

"Naruto," he spoke for the first time in about an hour, "You and Hayato need to follow me. Sasuke, Hinata, and Kankurō; I need you three to stay exactly where you are. Understood?" His voice dared any of them to find reason to disobey—which none of them did.

Kankurō released the eight-year-old, walking over to Hinata and immediately wrapping his arm around her, watching Hayato pick himself up and slowly and hesitantly make his way over to his father. Kakashi nodded at the two males in front of him before turning around almost abruptly, paying no more attention to them than need be as he walked them into the forest, the two of them moving quickly behind him. Hinata visibly relaxed when Kakashi left her normal line of sight, which did not go unnoticed by Kankurō.

"You okay?" he asked her gently, raising an eyebrow.

She shook her head. "I… I'm not sure. He's scaring me."

Sasuke sat down beside the two of them, rubbing his bottom lip. "That's just Kakashi, though. He does that sometimes."

He rubbed his chapped lips once more before rubbing his neck, pushing down his collar and inadvertently showing off several bruises that dotted his neck and the skin behind his ear. Hinata and Kankurō both blinked in surprise before mischievous smiles formed on their faces (well, at least, as mischievous as a smile that Hinata gives can possibly be).

"Sasuke-kun… is that… a _hickey_?" Hinata said with a giggle in her voice, making the Uchiha turn an uncharacteristic shade of red and quickly pull up his collar, attempting damage control. Too bad that damage control would not help him at that point. "Sasuke-kun, did something _happen_ on your mission between you and Kiba-kun?"

"Something of the _sexual_ variety, perhaps?" asked Kankurō cheekily, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Everything dirty that Hinata couldn't say, he unabashedly would.

"The both of you need to shut the fuck up before I Kirin your asses into oblivion," Sasuke half-growled, half-choked out, his face as bright as tomato. _It's going to be a long night, _he thought somberly to himself.

* * *

He didn't want to be out. When he was busy with things important to him, he tended to want to allow it to fill up his time. He hated being interrupted, hated wasting his time doing anything else, even if it benefited him, even if it was something as simple as actually eating a full meal. Shizuka glared down at his plate, pushing the beef negimaki around instead of eating; finding the idea of eating more than a few of the rolls to be somewhat sickening. Hanabi giggled to herself, plucking a roll off of his platter and putting it in her own mouth, making Shizuka look up at her with disdain.

"If you want me to stop eating your food, you're just going to have to start eating it yourself," she said mischievously, forcing Shizuka to crack a smile of his own. Though he was mad that he couldn't do his work right now, he was happy to spend time near Hanabi and Obito. They always made him feel more normal than anyone else in the entire world, even more normal than Gaara and Genma made him feel. They were his closest friends, and for a long time, his only friends. He had more, but none that would ever be as precious to him as those two were to him. Never.

"I'm not very hungry," he said softly, pushing the plate away. Though he hated sharing his favorite dish with anyone, he was disgusted at the prospect of eating it all by himself. The idea of food was making him want to puke, though he _was_ still hungry. He knew he should eat, but he really didn't want to eat. He didn't want to risk throwing up. As a medic, he knew that something like that wasn't a good thing, and he really should eat more than just two rolls and a bit of rice, but he really was worried about throwing up rather than what was right for his body.

Obito frowned slightly and pushed the plate back. "You've barely eaten, Shizuka. Eat a little more."

He stared at the daunting plate. "I really don't know if I can. I've already eaten way too much," he muttered, mostly to himself.

Hanabi looked concerned immediately, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead, as if she were a parent rather than his best friend. It was odd, but it was quite nice—her hand was so _cool_ against his skin.

"You feel a little warm, Shizuka. Are you catching a cold or something?" she asked.

"Hmm? No. It's just… it's a hell of a lot warmer out here than in the medical labs. It'll take some getting used to, I guess," responded Shizuka, rubbing the back of his head shyly. He really didn't want them worrying about him—they might do something radical and force him to sleep, too—and he wanted to show them that he was alright.

Stressed? Yes.

Slightly angry? Definitively.

But he was alright.

He was completely and totally alright.

Well… honestly, that wasn't true, either. He was currently battling nightmares, nightmares that started only a week ago. Nightmares in which… in which he was being left alone. Most people wouldn't consider that a nightmare, but to him, being alone was the worst possible thing for him. He _needed_ contact. He _needed_ people. He needed his small group of friends and precious people. They were important to him—so important. They saved him from himself. If it hadn't been for them, he would be alone, and beaten down by the world. Having them rescind their gift of kindness and friendship and closeness would… he didn't want to think about what it would do. He just didn't want to see it happen.

Obito sighed and pushed a piece of negimaki towards him. "Just one more then, Shizuka. Please?"

Shizuka looked up at Obito, seeing nothing other than concern in his dark brown eyes, and he nodded hesitantly, picking up the roll of beef and scallions, moving it around in the teriyaki sauce before eating it, swallowing it down dryly. He wiped the dripping sauce from his bottom lip, giving a small smile to Obito and Hanabi both, who both noticed the sauce still dripping down his chin and were refusing to smile and laugh. It wasn't that it was funny, but it was more amusing than watching him stare listlessly down at his plate.

Despite their efforts, they both fell into a mess of giggles, Hanabi nearly bent over the table, Obito pressing his forehead against Hanabi's shoulder as he laughed. Shizuka, despite himself, cracked a small smile, laughing lightly at the both of them, finally feeling the sauce on his chin. Shaking his head, he picked up the cloth napkin off the table and wiped his chin before noticing two shinobi not so far away from them, both of them glaring at them.

Mood gone, he pushed his plate away, sighing heavily and sadly. Obito looked up as much as possible, despite his laughs.

"I've eaten. Can we go now, guys?" he asked, flicking a glance at the glaring shinobi. From the look of them, they were just Chūnin—nothing they couldn't handle, but he didn't like people glaring at them, any of them. It was making him feel antsy and twitchy, like something was crawling all over him. It was making him want to do something horrible—what, he couldn't quantify, but he just _knew_ that it just wasn't any good.

Obito turned slightly, following Shizuka's look. The shinobi's looks hardened, if possible, upon Obito's eyes touching them. Obito's smile flattened out, showing his disdain and tipping off their last remaining companion about what was bothering Shizuka. Hanabi, at this point stopped laughing, but resisted the urge to turn around, knowing that two of them glaring was more than enough. She didn't need to add fuel to a flame that was already practically out of control. She was okay without doing that.

She swallowed dryly and nodded, forcing a smile as she pulled ryōs out of her pocket, throwing more money down onto the table than she truly needed to, simply wishing to diffuse the situation. Obito and Shizuka took a minute to stare at the incredibly high amount of money, confused as to why she may be carrying it around, before remembering the clan she hailed from. Of course she would carry around exorbitant amounts of money. She had more than enough of it.

The boys followed behind her, both of them on edge and ready to strike, twitchy from the glares. It had been a rather long time that someone had been giving them _that look_ and both were more than familiar with what happened after it was received, whereas Hanabi was slightly calmer, not expectant of what was happening. She didn't know this look as well as they did.

Obito resisted the urge to grind his jaw, instead wrapping his arm around Hanabi, pulling her leanly muscled body into his, warming her side. Usually, Hanabi would blush at the public display of affection—she wanted to take things slowly, and so did he—but he was obviously on edge, so she pushed down her embarrassment about it. She could hear Shizuka clearly next to her, and she turned slightly to look at him, smiling again. He forced a return smile, watching her pale eyes concentrate on a sight he knew to be not far behind him.

"Same number?" he asked with a quiet sigh.

"No. Double it," she murmured, "Are we going to keep going as if nothing's wrong, or are we going to stop and beat the shit out of them?"

"We can't just beat the shit out of them. It makes things worse," Obito said at his normal volume, "Not that talking does any help either, but it does better to just ignore them. They're some stupid assholes, nothing more than that. They're not worthy of our attentions." Hanabi sighed, but she knew that he was right. She'd seen enough of the beatings Shizuka used to get by the kids at school to know that nothing he did would make a difference. Fighting back really only just made things worse sometimes. "We're shinobi of the same rank and of the same village. We're not supposed to be fighting each other outside of organized spars and events. This is neither. Besides, it wouldn't be fair."

"I would say you're cocky, but you're right. Their chakra signatures are nothing compared to either of yours," she responded, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Give yourself something, your levels are high, too," Shizuka chided gently, smiling at her.

She smiled back, despite the tenseness of the situation, before Shizuka 'accidentally' bumped shoulders with a broad-muscled shinobi, at least of the Jōnin rank. Shizuka didn't stumble.

"Sorry," he said easily and insincerely, not batting an eye. _It didn't look at all accidental, _Hanabi thought, knowing that Shizuka was thinking the same thing as she, especially when the man grabbed Shizuka by the arm, grip visibly tight enough to cause pain. Shizuka merely blinked and looked up, unsurprised and uncaring. "Can I help you?"

"You touched me," growled the shinobi.

"Yes. That's what constitutes bumping into someone," responded Shizuka slowly, "Did you learn _anything_ in your pre-Academy basic classes?"

"Scum like you touched me," specified the shinobi, pushing Shizuka away roughly. He stumbled back a few steps, but didn't look away from the man, refusing to back down.

"Ah, looking for an excuse to start a fight. Mature," said Shizuka, yawning loudly. It'd been a while since she'd seen him play at disinterested— it didn't occur as often as she might like anymore. "But I'm not taking your bait. I've things to do, so I'd appreciate it if you and your little _club_ stopped bothering us. I'm uninterested in having a fight with you."

"The scum's cocky!" called one of the shinobi from the bar. "Do you think you're better than us? Hmm?"

Shizuka shook his head and sighed. "I really am _not_ interested in this. We're comrades. We share the same ways of life and ideals. We're better than this. I don't want to fight any of you. You're not my enemies, and I'm not yours, and neither are my friends. We are shinobi of the Leaf…"

"You're _nothing _like us!" snapped one ninja, a kunoichi. "None of you are! You're all traitors of Konoha! Scum of the earth! You don't belong here!"

"I don't get it. How are we traitors if we were never the ones doing the betraying?" Hanabi said, acting deliberately obtuse. "All we're doing is following our nindō. We're doing is being the ninja we are. We've done nothing wrong."

One man chuckled haughtily and pointed at Hanabi. "Don't play dumb, you stupid little Hyūga cunt." Hanabi raised an eyebrow, but was better than to let her anger absorb her. "We all know that you get lessons from Uchiha Sasuke. You've probably learned every dark, forbidden jutsu he's got to offer. I can see his evil all over you." Obito's brow twitched, but Hanabi showed no external reaction, seemingly untouched by the man's words. Sasuke was a good man; he didn't deserve to be scorned and neither did Hanabi, in Obito's opinion. "Go on, show us. Show us what the biggest traitor of Konoha has taught you, cunt."

She chuckled lowly, darkly. "He's taught me a lot of things," she said in a nearly sinister and creepy voice, a voice that Obito had only heard when she'd drafted her most sadistic prank, "None of which I feel necessary to show to people who are below me."

Hanabi was not stupid. She knew full well that instigation would not help them out of the situation. But, honestly, the situation had already gone so far south that she stopped worrying about trying to fix it, and it seemed like Shizuka and Obito were beginning to feel the same way based on the continuous tensing of Obito's muscles and the tightening and loosening of Shizuka's jaw.

The kunoichi coughed a bitter laugh. "Below you! We are _above_ you! We are truly faithful shinobi of the Leaf! And what are you?! One of you trained under the weapon who tried to kill us"—she pointed at Shizuka, who barely managed to resist the urge to growl at her—"the other under a man who tried to kill us and destroy our village because of his fucked, wayward clan"—she glared pointedly at Hanabi, who did her best to tighten her grip on Obito's wrist, stopping it from going to his thigh pouch—"and then there's him—the psychotic one. The one who killed more Leaf shinobi in the war than anyone else. The one that they should've executed instead of Haruno Sakura," she growled, her glare finally finding Obito, who glared right back.

"You have no idea what Sakura did," Obito said, making Hanabi and Shizuka's eyes widen slightly. All they heard was that she died. They hadn't really thought much else about it. But to hear she was executed? When… how…? Why did Obito know and they didn't? Why hadn't he told them?

"She was getting rid of scum _like_ you. She was getting rid of the Uchiha traitor. She was getting rid of _you_. She was getting rid of that genetic mishap. And… and she was getting rid of the monster responsible for the death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife twenty years ago! The one who tried to destroy Konohagakure!" screamed the kunoichi, making the accompanying shinobi nod in agreement.

They had, by now, drawn a small crowd, one filled with civilians and shinobi alike—which was good, because Hanabi could see plainly that this was going to get messy, quickly. After all, they'd just insulted their sensei. Their friend. Their big brother, their family, and the man who understood them the most… Naruto. He was the man responsible for making them feel wanted in this world, and for helping them flourish. Yes, they all went their separate ways, but they owed everything to Naruto. He never judged them (unless they were being so ignorant), or laughed at them (unless it was funny), or made them feel unwanted. He was a better person than any of them could ever think to ask for as their teacher. He was kind and fun and full of life. He was the reason they had gotten together so well. The reason they chased their dreams, the reason they'd never given up on their ideals. The reason they were so hard to beat. He was the reason they never gave up on themselves.

To insult him was to beg for a fight.

"Our sensei is a good man," said Hanabi in a terse voice, knowing they were all on the edge of calm. Taking a dare, she took a few steps forwards, letting go of Obito. "The Kyūbi who attacked the village is not Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto is a kind man, who'd do anything for this village, and he _will _be our future Hokage. He is a good man, and an even better shinobi, and you are nowhere near his caliber. You're all fucking _pathetic_."

The broad man who Shizuka had bumped into barely made two steps before he was next to Hanabi, smashing his fist into her gut and pushing her back a meter. She landed on the ground; her body feeling like it was absolutely on fire. She spat up blood, her ears ringing painfully loud with the sounds of sick laughter and gasps of surprise.

Obito nearly snapped right there, and so did Shizuka, both males taking a step forwards in a move to attack before Hanabi raised her hand, stopping them both. Holding her aching side, she stood up slowly, pain pounding through her body like a drum. She swished more blood around in her mouth before spitting it out onto the broad man's bare toes, making him growl in disgust.

Hanabi glared defiantly up at him. "You hit like a bitch. Should I show you how a shinobi should punch someone?" she said, knowing that with his broad height, build, reach and mass, she had a distinct advantage over him, an advantage that most others probably wouldn't even see.

The broad man growled again, moving to punch her again. Not even bothering to activate her Byakugan, she side-stepped the punch, waiting until the arm was fully elongated to punch him with all her strength—and maybe just the tiniest bit of chakra, not much—in the kidneys. He sucked in a breath of pain before dropping like a rock, the pain from her punch too much.

She didn't allow herself to smile, turning slightly to the increasingly angry shinobi who had just made the worst enemies. "I am not scum. I am not stupid. I am not a weakling. I am a shinobi of Konohagakure, and of equal standard as the rest of you. As diplomatically as possible, I beg you not to make us want to fight you. We can still walk away."

One of the shinobi—a blond one who, if he weren't such an ugly soul, she might have found physically attractive—scowled at her, and then smiled evilly, immediately setting her on guard. She knew better than to activate her dōjutsu; if she used something like that rather than general taijutsu merit, she would be in trouble for allowing a fight. She didn't want that, but she knew that this man probably did.

She could feel, almost tangibly, the usage of chakra before he disappeared right before her eyes. She didn't act stunned or confused; she knew fully well what was going on. But… where? Just where? She wouldn't see him with her Byakugan, if she activated it right now, until it was too late. She needed to use her other senses rather than her sight. Smell and sound, that was what she needed, smell and sound.

The smell of cologne came too late. She cursed to herself, pulling a kunai out of her back pouch and bringing it up to defend herself, resisting the urge to pat herself on the back when knife met knife in a sharp sound. This was… nothing. This was… this was… This was a distraction. The clone before her exploded in front of her eyes, solidifying her intuition. Eyes widening, she turned around, seeing the glinting of a long kunai knife in her peripherals too late for her to make a difference. This was going to hit. This was going to draw blood, and she knew it, even as she closed her eyes.

She could hear the sound of blade cutting flesh and muscle, but she awaited the pain with bone-aching worry, knowing that if the earlier action by the broad man had nearly set Obito off, then this will. Thankfully and unthankfully both, in Hanabi's opinion, it didn't happen, and she could almost feel the reason why on her skin. Well, actually, she could feel it. The blood. The feeling of warm blood spraying onto your bare skin is not a feeling Hanabi would want to describe, to anyone, especially when that blood… when that blood didn't belong to you.

Obito turned slightly and looked into the face of his paling girlfriend, knowing her mind was catching up with exactly what had happened although she wasn't looking. He knew what he'd done was stupid, especially since he could've done a numerous other maneuvers, in retrospect, rather than risking both his hands and fingers by grabbing the blade and spraying blood on his face and onto Hanabi's, but he couldn't find it within him to care about it; all he cared about was that Hanabi was okay. His arms quivered as he pushed against the user of the long kunai, gritting his teeth.

"You shouldn't have done that," he muttered, turning back to the shocked face of the shinobi in front of him. "I'm not very good at being diplomatic. None of us are, really, but Hanabi's better than I am."

Putting his strength behind his effort finally, he pushed the shinobi away easily, wincing in pain as the blade withdrew from his hands. He looked down at them, seeing the blood drip like rivulets out of the wound and onto the ground. They'd nearly cut through the bone, he realized. _Nearly_. It made his fingers operable, at the very least. He wanted to clench his fist, and he tried, but he almost ended up screaming in pain the moment his nails went anywhere _near_ the sliced mess.

Shizuka came quickly to him, ignoring the crowd as he grabbed Obito's hands forcefully, staring down at his wound. Obito wanted to pull his hands away immediately and deal with the scum who'd dared to try and hurt his girlfriend, but the look in Shizuka's eyes, when he looked up from his hands, stopped him. Shizuka's grey eyes held no semblance of the person he usually was, instead cold, seemingly unfeeling, and hard, yet somehow gentle to him, but definitely angry underneath. Unabridged anger.

"They hurt you." His voice was like a growl that had Hanabi opening her eyes at last, staring at her friend and, for the first time, not recognizing the boy she knew at all. "They hurt the both of you."

"Shi… zuka…?" she whispered, brows furrowing.

"What're you…?" Obito began in a nearly silent voice as Shizuka pushed him away, turning to the shinobi with the elongated kunai, who grinned evilly and stupidly at him, wiping Obito's blood off of the edge with his index finger.

Shizuka watched with sick fascination, his fingers twitching with the need to pull his katana out of its sheathe and shed blood again. His body was _singing _with the need, _begging_ for the relief of a shower of blood. Where the sick need came from, he had no idea, but he wasn't strong enough to deny it… especially when the shinobi pushed his finger into his mouth, licking the blood of his friend off.

Shizuka moved in a flash, one moment in front of Obito, the next driving his blade into the man's side, the visible part of his face showing the amount of happiness he seemed to derive from making the man suffer.

Obito's eyes widened in horror as the crowd seemed to snap out of its trance, the shinobi beginning to move the civilian population away. Good—because Shizuka didn't seem discriminate right now. In fact, Shizuka didn't seem like Shizuka. He twisted the katana in the man's side, blood dripping more profusely and the screams getting louder. Shizuka began to laugh, enjoying the sight of suffering. Enjoying the sight of pain of another person.

Hanabi moved to near him but Obito grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight against his chest, eyes wide. No. This was his friend, too, but no. He couldn't stop him. He was scared. For the first time, he was scared of Shizuka. He knew Shizuka was strong in his own rights, but… was scared of this Shizuka, not because of his strength, but because he would honestly have to be an idiot not to fear him. Pure, unhinged killing intent radiated off of him in waves, changing the boy in front of him from the best friend he cherished.

**_Run, _**he heard Meiwaku whispered hoarsely in his mind. The idea of Meiwaku being afraid of Shizuka was mind-boggling, but it was there, it was a reality, and it was what solidified the fact that he needed to keep Hanabi away from him. **_Run, before he kills us, too. _**

"Shizuka, please, stop!" screamed Hanabi as Shizuka slowly pulled his blade from the man's side, standing up over him. He turned slightly, the cold look already gone, replaced with a crazed look that had the screams in Hanabi's throat dying immediately, and had Obito taking a step back, shivering in fear at the bloodlust in the dark grey depths that were usually filled with warmth and kindness and shyness and happiness; the wide smile growing on his face by the second. "S-Shi…"

"The penance for hurting my friends is death," he said in an evilly happy voice, "No exceptions."

For a moment, Obito was sure—no, not just sure, positive—that the dark eyes had turned bright orange and something akin to devil's horns were trying to push out of his forehead. He wanted to disregard it, but another flicker of orange had him thinking otherwise. It had him believing otherwise. It had him wondering if he really was the worst type of monster in this world—or if the worst type of monster had, in actuality, been sitting next to him this entire damn time, masquerading as a lamb when he was so obviously a rabid wolf.

For the first time, Obito felt powerless and weak.

Shizuka turned away from them, redirecting his gaze downwards. His katana thrummed pleasantly in his hands, and he wondered if _this _was power. Was this strength? If so, it felt fucking _amazing_. It was the best type of drug. It felt so amazing, so good. He just… oh, God. Just so fucking _good_. Did Obito feel this way when he killed? When a life was hanging in his hands? Hmm, it'd be a question he'd have to ask, wouldn't it?

But later. Much later.

The katana was instructing him, telling him to cut off the man's head, to crack open the man's chest. He didn't know how to deny the seductive presence nagging at the back of his head. He didn't want to, either. The idea was simply too entrancing. Too good. Too amazing. Smiling gleefully, he pulled the blade up over his head, not noticing Hanabi's look of absolute fear towards him, not noticing the tangible feel of fear and revulsion radiating off of Obito, not noticing anything other than the amazing thrum of the katana.

He felt alive. He felt like he had a purpose.

And with that thought, he moved to slice down.

"_SHIZUKA, NO!_" Hanabi finally found the will to scream out.

* * *

**GIHEEHEEHEE **

**I'M TERRIBLE **

**xP**

**I don't hate Shizuka. In fact, I love Shizuka so much because of how vulnerable he is, how so human he is. But for the sake of plot I must persevere! To be honest, originally I had Obito snapping, but I figured THAT would be something expected. To have Shizuka snap was something I thought was much cooler AND would let me put in really interesting scenes. But I apologize to all my Shizuka-lovers out there (if there are any). **

**I don't know if anyone noticed (probably, I made it so obvious) but I was listening to 'All Signs Point to Lauderdale' by A Day to Remember when starting this chapter, which I remember having so many problems with that I could probably cry about. Unconsciously, I just started writing the lyrics - and then I incorporated them into that section of the chapter. It was originally a part of the plot, but I figured that if romantic anime and manga can have those sudden and unexplained bouts of remembrance out of nowhere, then I could have it too in FanFiction, so here it is! Lol. Sorry if it's confusing, but I can explain it if you're really curious... and review with that question... just a suggestion...**

**Why am I posting this chapter today, you ask? Well next week is a little thing called ComicCon. I got the three day ticket! The badge is really fucking cool this year... I was going to laminate it because I'm scared of the scanner part falling off but w/e (code, I ran out of time). I was also going to cosplay, BUUUUT... I wanna lose weight first. Yes, folks, I want to actually be the right weight for a character! **

**Apologies go out once again to my ****Ripple Effect**** fans if they're reading this note... I have plans detailed for the next chapter, and I've started writing it, it's just that I've run into a roadblock that I'm working out. Should be out before the 16th (of October). With hope. Fingers crossed xD**

**The Ripple****Effect****is****officially my most popular in-progress story. With the pace it's at, I think it might surpass ****Of Strength****. Makes me wonder where all the former readers for ****Of Strength**** went... makes me wonder that this really does suck as a story :( **

**Thanks goes out to ****sailorangelmoon1****, who is my favorite person in the entire world right now. Heehee, thank you for loving the story and Obito! **

**Thanks for reading this chapter! Favorite! Follow! Review! Vote! Make me a very happy authoress! **


	22. Chapter 21: Care

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

**_ENJOY!_**

_CARE_

_/ke(ə)r/_

_serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk; an object of concern or attention; a feeling of or occasion for anxiety; feel concern or interest; attach importance to something or feel affection or liking._

* * *

She fucked up.

She hadn't meant to, but she did. She had been scared, uncontrollably so. She couldn't stop herself from becoming afraid, and once panic sets in, she knows that it's only a matter of time before she really feels all of it. She knew she couldn't stop it once it began. However, she knew that she could have done something—anything—to stop from making Naruto feel like scum for having set off the panic. She didn't blame him for it. The touching felt so _amazing_. But she was scared of it turning into something _not _amazing, something scary… something like what her panics were about.

She really wanted to explain it to Naruto that it wasn't his fault, but she had no idea where to start explaining and apologizing. It wasn't like she could say, 'Oh, I was gang raped by my ex-boyfriend and the group he joined when he defected from the village because I was the ninja sent to chase them and bring them back to Konoha and I trusted him and now I'm afraid that every person of the male gender who touches me the way you were touching me is going to use me and leave me for dead like he did'.

Well, she could, but she didn't want to.

She didn't want to invite Naruto in. She _liked_ being alone. She liked not having a commitment like a relationship. It was easy, and she didn't have to risk being hurt.

She didn't want to invite him in, but… she did want to, at the same time. She _needed _to, actually. Something about Naruto made her want to, made her need to. She couldn't quantify it or even begin to understand it. She didn't know what to think about it, or even what to possibly do about it. All week, these growing feelings for the Uzumaki had been finding their way into any moment they could land their claws on.

When she woke up she found her skin tingling, begging for Naruto's touch, Naruto's slender fingers on her body.

When she watched him she found herself wanting to be next to him rather than up in a tree, wanting to feel his warmth beside her.

When she left him in the evenings she found herself wanting to go to his house, wanting to curl up in his bed and wanting to feel his muscular arms wrap around her body, to hold her tightly against his larger chest and to whisper sweet nothings into her ear.

When she finally fell asleep at night she found herself dreaming of him, of his familiar scent, his familiar voice.

She was falling in love with him. She knew she was but she didn't know why. She wasn't ready for something like this and she doubted she ever would be again. She thought she was in love with her ex-boyfriend: that didn't turn out too well at all. These feelings were considerably stronger, the ones she felt for Naruto but all the same she was scared to let him in, because once she did those masks she wore—the porcelain and the emotional—would do nothing to keep Uzumaki Naruto out. She would be vulnerable, and she was scared to be vulnerable.

Her ex had capitalized on her vulnerability. When she had found him, she was prepared to kill him if necessary—but he laid those eyes on her and gave her that smile of his, she'd had a moment of weakness. She let her 'love' for him get in her way. She'd let down her guard, and his 'associates'grabbed her from behind and temporarily knocked her unconscious, long enough for them to begin and get a firm hold on her so that when she woke up, she couldn't fight back.

What happened next she would rather not think about but she remembered lying on top of the tatters of her uniform, blood dripping out of the wounds she'd received for her struggles, trembling and crying uncontrollably. She hadn't stopped for a moment since she was left for dead, and it only increased when Daichi and Takashi had finally found her, both of them covered with blood and grime and sweat, murderous intent still radiating off of them in waves. She knew what they'd done. She knew why they were so bloody, so angry; and she couldn't help but think she could've avoided putting them through that if she hadn't been so goddamned stupid.

It was still raw, and she still had nightmares about it. She was getting better but… she wasn't ready, not yet. She was still scared of it, but just because she was afraid didn't mean that she had to make Naruto feel like shit. She had to tell him. She had to tell him the truth—well, not the fact about her being ANBU but at least about the rape. He deserved to know why she'd reacted in such a violent way to something as simple as him bringing her pleasure. He didn't deserve to feel like shit, which she knew he felt like, based on the way he had shut himself up in his house for a week, isolating himself with his dejection. Just because she was damaged didn't mean that she had to inflict her pain on to him.

She was going to approach Naruto when Sasuke had beat her to the punch, forcing her to hang back, thankful she hadn't yet gone back to her apartment to change. When Naruto had gotten dressed, she knew that approaching him as Fuki was not an option. Feelings or not, she still had a job to do, and that job was to tail him as Wolf. And so, Wolf tailed them, hanging back just far enough to keep either shinobi from noticing her; the key to tailing Naruto—staying _just _outside Naruto's range of sensing, keeping him in her sight and keeping her out of his. While she did enjoy the game they played—Naruto trying to find her—this week hadn't made her exactly keen to play it when he did get out of the house.

She was slightly perturbed when she found they were not only meeting up with one of the infamous Sand siblings, the puppeteer Kankurō, but also with two of the best ANBU she'd ever come across—Kakashi and Hinata. She remembered Hinata from her days at the Academy; and Hinata had made it clear she remembered her as well, as one of the girls who had mercilessly picked on her. She didn't hold a grudge, but she didn't really like her. Fuki was glad that it wasn't worse. The prospect of having someone like Hinata hate her seemed like a death note.

She kept her distance, knowing better than to approach them, and merely watched Naruto, following them when Naruto was escorted by the Copy ninja. She knew she was walking on thin ice with this one—she didn't want Kakashi or Naruto to sense her, and they were both pretty sensitive individuals when it comes to their surroundings. It made her hang further back than she was really comfortable with, but she had no choice.

Kakashi took them out into what seemed to be the middle of the forest, making the two males sit side-by-side on a rock. He seemed to be talking to them, but she couldn't make out the words. Curious, she moved to go closer… only to feel the edge of a kunai pressing against her neck.

"Don't move forwards one more step. Turn around."

_Yes, because I _want_ my throat sliced open_, she thought, holding her tongue as she turned slightly, the lazy grey eye of Hatake Kakashi glaring at her. She was thankful that the porcelain mask hid her emotions—she was sure that the fear she felt at the radiating aggravation and killing intent that Kakashi was extruding reflected in her features. "What're you doing here, Wolf?" he asked in a tone of tightly-concealed irritation.

"My job, Dog-sempai," she responded.

"I'll take over it for the night. Get out," he said.

"No," she said clearly, "It's _my_ job. _I _need to do it."

"You misunderstand. I _wasn't_ giving you an option," he spat, "I was giving you _an order_. What you're intruding upon is business of the Hatake clan. You're not Hatake."

"Neither is Uzumaki Naruto."

"You're walking on thin ice."

"I excel at that. I'm staying. He is my concern, not this 'clan business' you have going on. I honestly couldn't care less about it. My job is to protect him in case he is put in danger."

"That's why you can't stay here. Your duty is to protect him and this is something he cannot be protected while doing. Now go, or I'll wipe your memories until you have the intelligence of a two-year-old," he threatened.

"Still, no. The mission goes above all else, sempai," Fuki said, knowing that Kakashi's threat was in no way an empty one.

Kakashi glared at her, his kunai still against her neck. "Give me _one reason_ I shouldn't slit your throat for disobeying orders. Like you keep reminding me with honorifics, you're underneath me in rank. My orders are law to you."

"You do that, Naruto will be depressed that he won't see me," she found herself sputtering.

Kakashi barely blinked, but it was noticeable enough. "Explain."

"He has an… _interest_, shall we say, in my plainclothes persona," she responded quickly, "And the last he saw of me, I had a panic attack after he was showing his _interest_ in me. Physically. He's spent the last week shelled up in his apartment, only leaving to replenish his alcohol, milk, and instant noodle supply. I was taught that behavior like that signifies heartbreak."

Kakashi quirked up his eyebrow slightly. "So you're the reason Naruto looks like a kicked puppy?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I've yet to figure out a way to apologize." _Without telling him I'm in ANBU_, she wanted to add, knowing Kakashi would understand regardless.

"Hmm. This is a predicament. Either I kill you for disobeying commands and destroy my student inadvertently, or I allow you to stay and to keep destroying my student by your own choice, but still giving me a guilty conscience. Sound accurate enough?"

"Unfortunately, that's where this leaves us, though the second option allows me space to fix the predicament I've managed to get myself into."

"A fix you have no idea how to go about."

"Technically, yes. But Cat-sempai often commends my ability to think through variables to find the best solution, so the possibility of me leaving this fucked is very slim."

Kakashi sighed. "You are so lucky that I don't want to kill tonight," he grounded out, pulling his kunai back. She sighed in relief, visibly relaxing some. "You're to stay back. Whatever happens, you're not to interfere. Once everything is done, I'm wiping your memories of this night. This is official Hatake clan business, and I can't have outsiders knowing unless they have something to do with the clan."

"Is that why Hinata-sempai, the Uchiha, and the Sabaku are hanging back instead of coming with you?"

"Since I'm wiping your memories, it won't matter if I tell you. Yes, they are a part of the business, but they're not fully involved. I'm granting them full Hatake clan protection and, at the same time, inducting both Naruto and my son into the ranks of the Hatake clan."

She frowned behind her mask. "Does Naruto know you're doing this?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No. He doesn't. I can't have him knowing what he's getting into. It's a part of the test." The other Kakashi began to back away, and the Kakashi in front of her straightened up. "Come with me. I don't trust you not to get involved, Wolf."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm not _stupid_, I can hear it in your voice; you have feelings for Naruto. I know the way you are, and I know you will try to help him wherever possible. I can't have you doing that. You'll invalidate what I'm doing, and I'll never be able to do it again. This is a one-shot deal, and they need a completely level playing ground," Kakashi explained bluntly, not attempting to lie or beat around the bush. It made sense—she was getting her memory wiped regardless. There was no point in beating around the bush when she wasn't going to remember there was one to begin with.

"These feelings will disappear," she muttered, not commenting on the unusualness of this supposed 'induction ceremony'. She wasn't an expert on it, but according to Daichi, clan inductions were calm and formal events, requiring kimonos and obis and manners. They did not include anything like going out in the dead of night and being ditched.

He flicked a glance at her. "If you feel half of the way I think he feels for you, then you'd know how false a statement like that is, Wolf."

The two of them moved in silence, moving quickly to meet up with the other Kakashi and the three other shinobi, the Kakashi she was with disappearing in a puff of smoke. Hinata frowned at her, recognizing the mask and, therefore, the person, but other than that, did not acknowledge her. This was the usually the extent of Hinata's interaction with her, and she knew that she deserved it.

Sasuke stared at her for a moment (or, more accurately, her hair). "Aren't you that girl who Ino threatened with a poisonous flower stem?"

She sighed. Leave it to the Uchiha to throw away her entire disguise simply by identifying her haircut and probably her chakra signature.

She pushed her mask off of her face, pushing her messy red locks down. "Please, never join ANBU, Uchiha-san. You'll end up killing your comrades like that," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, "And no. I was there, but not me. That was Ami she threatened, and only the roots were poisonous, not the stems."

Sasuke's mouth quirked slightly. "Regardless, it made for a nice story, especially with how distressed you and that curly-haired girl were when you were fawning over that bitch, from what I heard," he said, standing up.

Hinata frowned at him, standing up herself. "You know, there are some moments where you really do need to get that stick out of your ass."

Kankurō whistled appreciatively at his fiancé as he stood up. "I like it a lot when you're a bitch to people sometimes, hime. It's so fucking hot," he said, his arm going over her shoulders as he sloppily kissed her forehead. She smiled despite her irritation, a slight blush taking over her cheeks. Kankurō turned his attention over to Fuki, looking her up and down. "I'm Kankurō. You're the ANBU stalking Naruto, aren't you?" _Just how many people did Naruto tell? _Fuki questioned as Kankurō continued, "He's told everyone. It's no secret. We all thought he was crazy, yeah, but it was no secret."

Sasuke said, "I thought I felt a presence behind me when I fetched Naruto. Why are you shadowing him?"

"Don't feel left out; you're getting one, too," Fuki said, deliberately not answering the question. She turned to Kakashi, crossing her arms over her chest. "So what is this? A viewing party?"

"For now, it might as well be," said Kakashi.

Sasuke looked at his ex-sensei. "Viewing party? Explain," he ordered. _Things really don't change_, she thought, resisting the urge to shake her head at the Uchiha. He was still an asshole. It wasn't as bad as his earlier commentary, so they all ignored it. Kakashi's lips visibly twitched behind his mask, excitement in his features.

At almost exactly the same moment, all shinobi present raised their eyebrows at him, confused at the excitement. What could he possibly have to be excited about? What the hell was he doing?

"I don't know _how_ to explain. So how about I show you instead?"

* * *

Due to his overactive imagination, Naruto had always had a slight problem with imagining things at the correct scale. He always imagined things to be bigger than they were. The first time he saw a real bridge, he'd been shocked at how much dinkier it'd been compared to the extravagantly engineered bridges of his imagination. The first time he'd gone inside the Academy classrooms, he'd been shocked at how normal they were compared to the imagined scenario where weapons and battle plans lined the walls. The only thing that had ever lived up to imagination was the portion sizes at Ichiraku. Basically, what his problem was that he always imagined it to be bigger than how it actually was.

Right now, his imagination seemed to disappoint and surprise him at the same time by teaching him a new and interesting fact—wolves were actually bigger than what he'd thought they'd be. In wilderness survival movies, the wolves were about the size of huskies. But, really… they seemed practically double that size. Or was it triple? He didn't know, he wasn't good at estimation, but he could tell one thing, and it was that a wolf was not only _huge,_ but it was a hell of a lot scarier than how he thought they'd be.

And all he had in terms of weapons was a kunai knife meant for slitting throats.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if this was a sick joke on the parts of Kakashi, Hinata, Kankurō, and Sasuke, but he knew that none of them could be this cruel. The only shinobi he could think of doing something like this would be Anko, and as far as he knew she wasn't around and she dealt with snakes, not four incredibly large, growling, deadly wolves.

Without thinking, Naruto grabbed Hayato by the hand, pulling him close as a dark brown colored wolf began to circle around them, growling deep in its throat as it kept its reddish-brown gaze on the two of them. Hayato, bless the kid, wasn't quivering or displaying any fear except for his facial expression. Naruto would've felt proud of him if he wasn't freaking out himself, barely keeping it together as a black-and-brown wolf began doing the same thing, moving slowly and carefully.

"W-Where's my dad?" Hayato whispered; grey eyes wide with fear.

"I have no clue," Naruto murmured in response, "But I'm sure he'll be on his way back soon. Kakashi-sensei would never leave us out here. We'll be okay. Do wolves attack if you keep still? I read somewhere they don't."

"W-Wrong animal. That's b-bears," Hayato whispered shakily.

"OOOOOH," muttered Naruto sheepishly, blushing just slightly. "I get 'em mixed up sometimes." Hayato gave him an incredulous look, making the blush increase. "Sorry, I'm not around wolves and bears everyday. I don't _have_ to worry about it. Hell, I didn't even know there _were_ wolves near Konoha. I've never seen them."

Hayato kept staring at him. _Did Naruto never do an ecological survey in the Academy?_ Hayato wondered worriedly, briefly, before a wolf with vibrant green eyes began circling them. Naruto tightened his grip on Hayato, his attitude darkening with the need to protect him.

"Climb on my back, and whatever you do, don't let go," he ordered Hayato, who couldn't move fast enough as he wrapped his legs around Naruto's waist, his hands clasping together around Naruto's neck, still allowing him full movement.

Naruto allowed Kurama to increase his senses, not noticing the increasing of his whisker-like birthmarks, nor the slight tinting of red that touched his blue orbs. The wolves growled at the tailed beast's chakra, the scent of fox touching the air. Naruto knew wolves and foxes didn't mix, but he didn't care; adrenaline pumping full force through his veins. Should he run? Should he fight? Should he save them both, or just Hayato? He looked back at the scared eight-year-old. He couldn't run with him on his back; not very fast anyways. Not fast enough to outrun four wolves that had his scent. He wasn't that stupid.

No. Fight was his only option.

A wolf launched at him as he made up his mind, and he narrowly avoided it, crouching low, feeling the superheated body of the wolf as it passed overhead. Hayato yelped out, but buried his face deep enough in the back of Naruto's loose black-and-orange sweatshirt to muffle it. Naruto reared up, testing out the capability of the kunai he was given as he moved to cut the wolf from throat to belly, cursing when the side he was trying to use indeed proved not sharp at all. It really only had one purpose!

_Motherfucker. How does Kakashi expect us to survive? _Naruto wondered as he leapt back, wishing he'd brought his own weapons. _Well, in Kakashi's defense, I don't think he was expecting us to come across four hungry wolves… so… he's forgiven, for now. _

If he only knew how wrong he was.

Kakashi was a good ways away, far enough for neither to notice or see him, but close enough so he could see everything going on as clear as day. The small tree house he was in was amazingly roomy and sturdy, roomy enough to fit all five of them, and sturdy enough for the aged wood not to collapse under their combined weights.

He sat in the open framework for a window that was either never installed or never meant to be there, leaning against it as he watched, blood boiling with excitement. Was this the way his father felt? How had he contained such a feeling? He wanted to howl with pure happiness. He wanted to run down there and join the pack, and to let loose his inner nature.

Hinata's jaw dropped as she looked on, watching as Naruto fended off the wolves and kept Hayato protected. She was scared, horrified, and fascinated all at the same time. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight of her friend and her adoptive little brother being surrounded by four wolves, wolves that were larger than any other she'd seen before in her life. She was terrified that something bad was going to happen—terrified they would be slaughtered by these wolves. She didn't want that to happen. It would be a cruel way to die.

Kakashi's laugh snapped her out of her trance, her head snapping to look at her mentor. Kakashi's eyes—both of them, even the Sharingan was out and recording the sight—were filled with excitement and joy.

"Are you sick?" she hissed, catching his attention. He turned to her, eyes wide with surprise at her words.

"No. I feel fine," he said, brows furrowing in obvious confusion.

Sasuke stared at his teacher, seeing more honesty in this look than he'd seen when he was a Genin. He shook his head quickly, taking Hinata's side. She was right. There had to be something wrong with him. There was no other explanation.

"You have to be. You're laughing at _your son _and _your student_ as they fight wolves, Kakashi! Your son, who you've made it clear to the world that you love more than life itself! Naruto, who you consider to be your own son! We have to help them; they're going to die!"

Kakashi's eyes immediately turned cold. "Help them and _you_ will be the ones dying," he growled, forcing a shiver to ripple through both Sasuke and Hinata's spines. "No one will interfere. This is a one-shot deal."

"No _shit_ it's a one-shot deal, it's a _fucking execution_," spat Kankurō from his place across the room—he couldn't watch this sight. It was whacked. He now made his way to Kakashi, his arms crossing over his chest as he tried to hold in his anger. "Those wolves will _kill_ them! Naruto's hindered because he's carrying Hayato! There are four of those wolves! They're going to die!"

"If he put down Hayato, he would find it easier," Kakashi hummed.

Kankurō's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. "'If he put down Hayato', Hayato will _fucking die! _He's _eight years old, you sick fuck_!"

Kakashi shrugged and turned away. "Ne, they'll be fine. Neither of them will die," he said dismissively.

"Kakashi, stop this. This has to be breaking laws," Hinata said, and from the back of the room, Fuki nodded her agreement, listening although she couldn't tear her eyes away from the bright yellow hair of Naruto, her heartbeat quick and arrhythmic with worry for him. "Kakashi, please, don't do this!"

"They'll be fine," he responded again, not even blinking as he stared down below. "They're not going to die. You'll see. They'll both be fine. They'll be better than before. Trust me." He turned slightly, his eyes touching upon Hinata. "Trust me. I wouldn't do something to hurt them."

Hinata swallowed dryly, but hesitantly nodded. She would. If Kakashi wasn't worried, then she would trust him. Kakashi didn't do things like this without reason. While they didn't make sense to her right now, mostly because she didn't know the reasons, she knew to trust him anyways. She knew in her heart that Kakashi wouldn't throw his son and Naruto to danger without feeling confident that they would be okay.

While she may have accepted it, the others didn't, specifically one infuriated Uchiha.

Sasuke exploded, "How the fuck am I supposed to trust you when you're sending Naruto to his death without rhyme or reason? How am I supposed to trust you when your son is down there, terrified out of his fucking mind, and all you're doing is recording it with your fucking Sharingan? How am I supposed to trust you when you won't fucking explain your whack job reason for sending wolves to attack your son?! How the fuck am I supposed to trust you won't turn around and do the same thing to one of us?!"

Kakashi quickly turned to face him, his eyes searching immediately for a sign of a joke or a lie in Sasuke's unhinged emotions, neither of which showed in his body language or his face. His smile faded slightly, and he blinked, closing his Sharingan eye and staring at Sasuke with his regular eye.

"Do you really think I'd do something like that?" he asked.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't tell. You say you love Hayato and would do anything to keep him safe and yet you're tossing him to wolves. Your words don't match your actions. You're going to kill them."

Kakashi shook his head. "I wouldn't."

"You are," Sasuke refuted.

"No, you don't understand. I really am not. Those wolves are not going to kill them," Kakashi said, standing up, his grey eye looking around at the confused shinobi. He pointed downwards, towards wolves. "Hinata; Kankurō. I told you I was going to align you guys with the clan, correct?" The two ninja in question looked at each other before nodding. "I've never gone into specifics with it; I guess I should've. Those wolves down there? Those are 'the clan' I was talking about. _My_ clan. They're members of my clan—well, some of them, anyways."

Hinata blinked, and looked out to Naruto and Hayato. "S-Some?"

"The Hatake wolf pack is a pack of about roughly seventy to eighty wolves," Kakashi said, making all shinobi blink. "The Hatake clan adopted the pack before the idea of a shinobi village existed. We, and the Inuzuka and Aburame clans, are the only clans to have ever tamed wild animals without having an ocular dōjutsu or any sort of drug. They are _not_ wild wolves. They are completely tame, just as tame as the Inuzuka dogs. Before my clan became nomadic, as it is now, this entire forest was—and still is—Hatake grounds."

"B-But…" Hinata stammered, confused, "W-Why…?" She swallowed, trying to get her stutter under control. "W-Why a-are they… why d-did you s-send t-them to f-fight them… a-and not us?"

Kakashi sighed, making eye contact with the worried Hyūga. While he knew that she hadn't lost any faith in him, that didn't mean to say that his motives went absolutely unquestioned. Now that he was getting a cap on his excitement due to the verbal beating he'd just received from Sasuke, he realized that his lack of explanation would be a cause for worry.

"I said I would align you with the clan, Hinata, nothing other than that," he said in a soft voice, "So I don't need to put you through what they're doing. What they're doing will not only give them an alliance with the wolves, but it'll also—"

"It'll bring the both of them into the Hatake clan," whispered Fuki, remembering the earlier conversation with Kakashi's clone.

Kakashi nodded. "Correct. I can't bring you guys into my clan. Sasuke and Hinata are set to inherit their own clans, and Kankurō will be a part of the Hyūga clan by annexation soon enough. I can't offer you more protection than an alliance with the wolves, whereas with Naruto, who has no clan… I can offer him a full induction into the clan. It'll connect us by blood, and offer him more protection than just the wolves." He sighed. "If I could offer you an induction into my clan, I would. But Konoha mandate states that any one person cannot have more than one clan. It's part of the reason why Nara Obito cannot change his last name to Uchiha. He may be Uchiha by blood, but by law he's Nara. Once inducted, one is forever a family member of that clan. They're indebted to that clan."

"And Naruto has no such allegiances," Sasuke said slowly.

"Right. He may be Uzumaki, but that does not make him a member of the Uzumaki clan, and his father was not a member of any clan—the only Hokage not to be." Sasuke, Fuki, and Kankurō's brows furrowed at that, but Hinata knew full well what Kakashi was saying. He'd long since told her about Naruto's parents, and of the night Naruto was born, from his point-of-view. She already knew that Naruto's father was the late Fourth Hokage.

"Wouldn't Naruto have to give up his current last name?" she asked, calming down. As long as she didn't look over at them, she was fine.

Kakashi shook his head. "He can hyphenate it, and continue to refer to himself as Uzumaki Naruto. His name will become Uzumaki Naruto of the Hatake, or simply Hatake-Uzumaki Naruto. It's his choice, granted that he even accepts the induction."

"He can still deny it at this point?" asked Sasuke, surprised.

"Of course. This is a test simply for eligibility to become a Hatake," said Kakashi, looking over at the Uchiha. "If he passes, he gets a choice to simply get protection or to become a full Hatake. If he fails, I'm still giving him protection. Either way, he's protected."

"The Inuzuka don't do anything like this," Fuki said almost quietly, "Nor do the Aburame."

Kakashi nodded. "That's because the Inuzuka and the Aburame typically don't bring any outsiders into their clan. The clansmen, born into the clan, are given animals as part of their inductions, life-partners. From the day they're born, they have an animal they can align with. It's predestined, and they must wait until the animal is born to be formally inducted into their clan.

"For instance, Inuzuka Kiba wasn't inducted into the Inuzuka clan until he was seven—when Akamaru was born, and his sister didn't become an Inuzuka until she was eight, when all her dogs were born. On the other side of the scale, their mother was inducted when she was three, with the birth of her dog, and Aburame Shino became a member of his clan practically hours after his birth, as the beetles that Aburame breed are born practically by the hour.

"The Hatake clan is the only animal-aligned clan in Konoha—possibly the only one in the world—that doesn't do predestined selections. Wolves won't respect their masters like that. In order to gain a wolf's respect, one must best them in a battle. The selection of the wolves sent to fight the prospective clansman is based upon the two best personality relations, and the one that attacks the clansman the most becomes linked to them. The link is made by the trading of injuries."

Kankurō nodded, full understanding now why Kakashi was doing this. It made sense. Barbaric, yes, but it made sense. Wolves, no matter how tamed, were not like dogs or bugs. They were born with the instinct to kill. It couldn't be bred out of them. They weren't pets.

Sasuke swallowed. "So the Inuzuka and the Aburame don't do that?" he said slowly.

"No. They can't bring even their lifemates into their clans, but they do grant them full clan rights, from voting in their issues to helping to breed the animals. We all do that in the same way, the bringing in of lifemates into the clan. It's called 'marking' or 'claiming'." Sasuke widened his eyes slightly, and Kankurō felt as if an amusing tidbit was coming on. Kakashi visibly smiled behind his mask. "It isn't done often, and I haven't done it, but I'll do a basic summation of it. They bite their lifemate, usually referred to as simply a 'mate', near a major blood flow and inject their chakra into their body whilst in the climax of unprotected consummation."

Sasuke went pale, and though she knew she shouldn't Hinata began to laugh, turning bright red with understanding what Kakashi said. Kankurō had to push his face into the crook of Hinata's neck in order to smother his laughter, his entire body shaking. Even Fuki, who was supposed to be playing the part of stoic-and-worried-ANBU, forgot her worries for a moment as she curled into a nearby corner, smothering her laughs by pressing her face into her thighs.

"D-Did y-you just s-say what I-I think you j-just said?" stammered Sasuke (and making all parties present wish they had a recorder). Sasuke would be cursing himself for stammering, but honestly, one does not simply recover from a dropped bomb like that, not even Uchiha Sasuke.

"Yes," said Kakashi, his excitement returning as he nodded, "I just said that Kiba has to bite you while you two fuck. Sounds romantic doesn't it, ne? Makes me wonder who'll be doing the fucking and who'll be the one getting fucked."

Sasuke stomach rolled. "I… I think I'm gonna puke."

Kakashi laughed. "Maa, you do that; I'm going to watch them. It's been an awfully long ten minutes, and I wonder if anything's happened yet," he said, turning his gaze back out to the two males.

They all seemed to calm down at the mention of Naruto and Hayato, worry returning. Kakashi could almost feel the change of mood, though it wasn't as tense as before. "I'm sorry I didn't explain what I was doing. But trust me, they will not die. I promise they won't die. I went through this when I was six, just before I graduated. My father told me he did this at five, and that my mother did it at nine. They will be fine. They will not die. They will not die. _They will not die._"

* * *

He felt like he was going to die.

Hayato felt like a million pounds on his back, a weight that only steadily grew with every moment that he ran around like an idiot in the small clearing, barely managing to avoid the wolves as they attacked. They steadily increased in speed, too, making it all harder. Naruto landed on the balls of his feet, sweat dripping down his face and his breath coming to him in heavy, painful pants, his blue eyes losing all sight before he gained it back in the same moment.

"N-Naruto," whispered Hayato, trembling. He was scared, scared for himself but not nearly as much as he was afraid for Naruto, who was expending himself for the sake of keeping him safe. "I c-can…"

"I… I'm okay," he said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead, one hand on his knee. "I have … high stamina."

Hayato opened his mouth to argue with the Uzumaki, but the movement in his peripherals had him saying something completely different, out of fear and a need to survive. "Naruto, behind us!"

The Uzumaki cursed loudly, a creative new one Hayato stored away for use in the future (after he looked up exactly what 'cunts' were) as Naruto leapt to the right, the green-eyed wolf soaring past them by hairs.

Hayato knew that Naruto was slowing down considerably, and he knew it was his fault. His fear was getting in the way. His fear was going to get Naruto killed, and if he survived and Naruto didn't he would always feel that guilt for getting him killed. He was a selfless man, and… this wasn't right. Naruto didn't deserve to die just because he was afraid of these wolves. It wasn't fair of him to force that kind of thing upon Naruto like that, though he didn't seem to mind and actually seemed to want him to. His father had taught him better than that, than to force someone to die in your stead.

Hayato made up his mind in that moment, wanting Naruto to live more than he did. He decided that he couldn't afford to be afraid. A child he may be, but if he was going to be a shinobi someday, he was going to have to learn to get over his fear. To overcome his fear.

So he sucked in a breath and let go of Naruto when he noticed the brown-and-black wolf sneaking up behind them, turning around and allowing the beast to drag its large claw down right down his torso, ripping through his clothing and skin. Hayato cried out in agony, but despite his pain and fear, Hayato grabbed the wolf's front leg, using the slicing kunai that he'd been clinging to for dear life in his gloved hand as he plunged its curved tip into the wolf's flesh, spraying blood all on his face as he pulled down with all his might, the wolf barking in pain.

He kept dragging it down until another wolf tackled him from the side, pushing him to the ground and making him let go of his kunai. He gave a strangled shout, which was slightly muffled by the amount of blood in his mouth, as he fell, the green-eyed wolf pushing all its weight down onto his upper arms and shattering the bones within. He screamed again, struggling to kick out, but mostly trying to avoid the wolf's snapping jaws by moving his head around.

_I'm… I'm going to die, _Hayato thought, _I'm going to die. I… I don't want to die! I'm not ready to die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna! __I wanna… I wanna… I wanna… I wanna live. _

_I WANNA LIVE!_

Hayato's eyes snapped open, a single tome of a Sharingan spinning quickly in his eyes, startling the wolf enough for him to be able to bring his legs into his chest and then kick out at the wolf with all his strength, dislodging the canine enough for him to roll out, quickly getting to his feet. His arms hung uselessly at his side, and blood dripped down his chest. Each breath hurt him—a lot—but he hardly noticed it. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, making him feel absolutely _alive. _He felt that he could fight, even in his condition

He felt Naruto's presence come up beside him, and the green eyes of the wolf shifted from him to Naruto. Hayato looked up at the older male, red eyes widening as he noticed the angry red chakra surrounding him, his teeth bared and canines longer, longer than any human's teeth had a right to be, his pupils slit within bright red depths. He barely withheld fear at the sight of Naruto, and immediately reached out to touch him.

Naruto grabbed him by the hand, his grip rough and too warm. "You alright?" he asked gruffly. Hayato's mouth gaped as he nodded, not knowing if Naruto saw until he said, "Good. Now move."

"B-But… you're…" _Exhausted, _he was going to say, but Naruto definitely did not look like it. He looked completely fine.

"Not bleeding. I'm fine, and you're not. The other wolves stood down the moment you sliced that other one, except for this one. I'll deal with it." Naruto growled at it and it growled back, getting back onto its large paws.

Hayato's red eyes faded back into their normal grey, the adrenaline coursing his veins fading away, which he only noticed because the pain of the broken bones and the claw cuts returned tenfold. He winced, biting his bottom lip to keep his tears at bay. He couldn't cry now. He refused to cry. He was Hatake Kakashi's son, he didn't cry! He was better than that!

Naruto placed his hot hand on top of Hayato's head, ruffling the silvery blue locks and surprising Hayato. Naruto turned his face away from the wolf in order to give a [ironically] wolfish smile.

"It's okay to cry, you know. Crying just means you're alive, and that's good. It's okay to cry once in a while." Hayato stared up at him, eyes wide, not realizing the tears that started dripping out of them. Naruto rubbed his cheek. "Crying doesn't mean you're weak. I cry all the time. Am I weak?"

_No_, Hayato thought without hesitation. Despite the pain of his wounds, he gave a wobbly smile. "Y-You're strong, N-Naruto-nii," he said, giving the man the term without even thinking. Naruto chuckled, an act that was slightly gruff due to his current appearance.

"Damned straight, kid, dattebayo."

* * *

The moments in which Shizuka brought down his sword were the slowest of Obito's life. He knew it was not more than a few seconds, but they just went so slowly that it was surreal. Years would pass, and he would remember everything, even though he was not using his Sharingan. It was all simply imprinted onto his memory.

He would, for years, remember letting go of Hanabi. He would remember the strands of chocolate brown hair that hit his face as she began to run to Shizuka. He would remember each octave the man under Shizuka hit as he screamed. He would remember the feeling of each muscle group in his legs that moved him forwards as well. He would remember the sight of slowly watching Shizuka's blade moving closer, slow centimeter by slow centimeter, towards the man's chest. He would remember the look of terror on the visible side of Hanabi's face at the idea of her best friend—their best friend—killing a fellow Konoha shinobi in a moment of pure insanity. He would remember not knowing if he would actually make it to Shizuka before the blade impaled the man's chest bone, and he would remember not knowing what would happen if he did.

In the end, he didn't, and neither did Hanabi. They watched as sand came up around Shizuka, wrapping around his arms and stopping his movements, his arms trembling with the need to cut into the man's chest. The crazed look in his orange eyes turned into one of anger in a flat second, an animalistic roar escaping his lips as he moved to turn around, only for more sand to wrap around his legs.

Obito and Hanabi, in the meanwhile, were both moving too quickly to stop themselves, so they were aided by someone, an arm wrapping around each of their bodies, pulling them away from Shizuka. As time sped up, they caught up, and began struggling against the 'help' both of them wanting to get to Shizuka, wanting to help their friend.

"Let _go_ of me!" screamed Hanabi angrily, activating her Byakugan and hitting a pressure point on the shinobi's elbow, forcing them to let go. She fell before getting clumsily to her feet as she forced herself to run again, screaming for Shizuka to stop. Another shinobi came down, this time in front of her, grabbing her by the waist and hoisting her up onto his shoulder in one fluid motion. She struggled, kicking her legs, but the shinobi—the same ANBU that Obito knew to be trailing him—refused to let her go, slapping a chakra-restraining sealing tag on the back of her neck.

"_Hanabi!_" yelled Obito, wanting to get free, but the man—or men, it seemed, he couldn't really tell anymore—wrapped more arms around him, pushing him to the ground and fully restraining him, slapping chakra-restraining handcuffs onto his wrists. He did his best not to struggle, his eyes flitting from his girlfriend to his best friend, wanting to help both but knowing if he fought too much against these people, he would end up hurting them all. "_Shizuka!_"

"I _have_ to get to Shizu!" screamed Hanabi, kicking her captor as hard as she could. If he felt pain from it, he didn't show it, instead he kept moving, throwing her down to the ground beside Obito. Before she could attempt to get to her feet again, shinobi jumped on her, holding her down and slapping cuffs onto her. "He needs us! Get off of me so I can help! Please, let me help!"

"Shizuka, please, stop!" screamed Obito, his brown eyes trying to find his best friend in the psycho fighting against the flowing sands. The orange demonic eyes only increased in vibrancy, and Obito could see that there were truly horns coming out of his forehead. He didn't know what was happening to Shizuka, but he wanted to help him. He just wanted to help his friend. He was trapped in this darkness and he just wanted to pull him out of it.

"_Shizuka_! _Stop_! It's _okay_! It's all okay! I'm alright! We're alright! Just _stop fighting_! _Please_!" he begged.

The sand continued to wrap around him, encasing him. Obito recognized the technique—he'd seen it somewhere before but he just couldn't remember where right now, in that moment. In the end, it didn't matter to him. What mattered was that _Shizuka_ was the one it was focused on. His _best friend_ was being attacked.

He wanted to help him. To save him from it, the darkness; and to bring him back to the light. He wanted to save Shizuka… no, not wanted. He _needed_ to save him. Shizuka needed to be saved. He needed to help him.

_I need to save him because if it were me, he wouldn't hesitate to jump into the darkness to get me, _was the last thought Obito had before someone—something-hit him hard, and his world faded into blackness.

* * *

The wolf moved to attack Hayato as soon as he turned his back, and Naruto attacked it before it got the chance, grabbing it around the neck and pulling to the ground, digging his claws into the wolf's flesh. He didn't care how much blood he drew, nor did he care how the wolf struggled. He was driven mad by the anger he currently had at the wolf for doing what it did to Hayato, and he wanted these wolves to get it into their heads that they weren't prey.

And then he looked up.

The other two wolves approached Hayato slowly, carefully as the boy knelt beside the wolf he'd left unable to walk on its front paw. Hayato did his best to shrug out of the brown jacket, but without hands to use, he found difficulty. He finally managed to shrug it off, and picked it up with his teeth, placing a knee on the fabric and tearing as hard as he could, creating a long strip. His body seemed to quiver as he craned his neck, laying the long strip carefully into the wound he'd dealt, pressing it in with hard, pursed lips, not caring about how odd he looked. When he finished, he rubbed his cheek against the wolf's giant paw, not caring in that momentif it was a dangerous creature, and whispered what Naruto could only assume were reassurances.

It wasn't the actions that really caught Naruto's eye, though. What caught his eye, really caught his eye, was the look of what seemed to be adoration in the wolf's large eyes as it craned its neck, rubbing its muzzle against Hayato's broken arm. He winced, and immediately it pulled away, seemingly knowing that it'd hurt him more. The eyes of that wolf told Naruto that the last thing it wanted to do was hurt Hayato more than it had already. It wanted… it wanted to protect him, it seemed. Maybe it was because they'd kicked the crap out of them and therefore proved their dominance, Naruto didn't know or care. What mattered to him was that Hayato wasn't in danger, not by this wolf, or the two others who stood there, staring. Hayato, even though he was losing a lot of blood, would be fine. That look said that Hayato would _always_ be protected. That he didn't need to worry about it anymore, not right now.

It was that look that made him lessen his grip.

The green-eyed wolf pushed away from him, its claws ripping into his right arm as it rushed to its feet too quickly and collapsed back to the ground. It whined under its breath, in pain from the damage done by Naruto's bijū-induced claws. As the Uzumaki calmed down, the claws rescinded, his eyes turning to normal as he carefully approached the wolf, no longer holding animosity towards the hurt creature. He had no idea when his feelings towards the wolf suddenly changed, but he found himself pulling off his sweatshirt and, like Hayato with his jacket, ripping the end off, ripping it up into smaller strips in order to deal with the several small claw slices he'd left in the wolf's flesh.

"Not so bad when you're in pain, huh," he murmured to himself. The wolf whined again, staring up at him with those striking green eyes, something akin to confusion in its depths. Naruto chuckled to himself slightly as he dealt with treating the injuries, not understanding _why_ he suddenly cared about the wolf that was trying to kill him but also not caring about _why_ he cared about it, simply doing so. "You're actually… you're actually kinda cute when you're not trying to rip my throat out with your teeth."

"Not bad."

Naruto and Hayato both flinched, both of them whirling around at the familiar voice. Kakashi stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he looked between the two of them-or, more correctly, the two wounded wolves lying beside them both. Hayato's face filled with relief, and he began to say 'Otō' before Kakashi spoke again, his next words making their blood run cold.

"Now kill them."

* * *

_**CLIFFIES FOR DAYS**_

_**MUAHAHAHA **_

_**Some of my AN from last chapter got cut off. It meant to say, "I have Comic Con next Friday, so I'm uploading earlier than usual so I can get ready for it and you guys can enjoy the chapter earlier." Thankfully, that means it also cut off "I'll upload the next chapter next Saturday", which obviously didn't fall into place. I've been unbearably busy these past few days. Lotsa editing (I do photography) and writing for other fics (The Ripple Effect) and so I apologize to what few fans I have for this story. The Ripple Effect is amazingly popular; I wasn't expecting that to happen. Maybe it's because it just sits there for much longer than this story does. Maybe it's because it's just better. Not sure. Also don't care. I'm still interested in finishing this story. I want to see how it plays out. **_

_**Review if you understand my nonsensical explanation of the idiosyncrasies of the Hatake clan. They're completely whimsical and probably non-comprehensible, but I liked them because they're probably the coolest things I've ever conjured up with my depraved mind. I'm interested to see what people think. **_

_**I have another busy week coming up, and while I'm sure I can fall back in my schedule, I know I'm not posting the next chapter up so quickly. So I'm going to post it next Friday. So sorry. But I've got two jobs coming up this Saturday, one for my school's football team, the other for my aunt's party. Technically, the latter isn't really a job seeing as I'm doing it for her for free, but the other one is. I'm charging dirt cheap, like $5 for like fifty pictures (so I make like $.10 per picture, which isn't really bad to me because it's $.10 more in my pocket than there was before). At least I can put that down as slight work experience or something. **_

_**I'm just going to go ahead and dedicate this chapter to sailorangelmoon1, who is shitting on you guys with her lovely reviews :D I love you all, still, though! **_

**_I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I look forwards to seeing you guys next time._ **


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